Monday, with one out and runners on first and second in the third inning of his second spring training start, Hyun Jin Ryu looked in for a sign from his catcher, Danny Jansen.
Ryu had gotten ahead of Victor Reyes, 1-2, with a fastball and a couple of cutters inside and wanted to follow with a changeup away. The intention, in light of those two runners on, was to generate swing-and-miss at best or weak contact at worst. Either way, Ryu and Jansen would be avoiding damage.
Jansen put down a sign. Ryu shook his head. Jansen put down another. Ryu shook again. Then the big, South Korean left-hander saw what he thought was the changeup sign and nodded, looking back over his shoulder at the runner on second. Only problem was Jansen hadn’t called for a changeup at all. And he was preparing to set up inside.
Ryu began his delivery with his eyes still on second, as he does. And when he came to the plate with a nasty, fading changeup away that a lunging Reyes never had a hope of getting his bat on, Jansen had to stab his left hand across his body and into the dirt to corral it and complete the strikeout, not to mention keep the ball in front of him and leave the baserunners where they were. Ryu didn’t even realize it until Jansen gave him a puzzled look:
When you’re Hyun Jin Ryu you can get away with stuff like that — even your misses get strikeouts. It was one of four on a cruise-control day in which he tossed four scoreless against an overwhelmed Detroit Tigers lineup, allowing nothing more than a pair of singles. Ryu needed only 49 pitches (38 strikes — five swinging, nine called) to do it, which was why he headed off to the Blue Jays bullpen after the outing to chuck 15 more. He’d come into the day planning to throw 60. And he was going to get them one way or another.
“He’s got a program that he follows,” said Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo. “And he doesn’t deviate from that.”
It’s true. You don’t get to be as good as Ryu is — and enjoy the results he has as a Cy Young finalist in both leagues over the last two seasons — without a carefully designed approach. Particularly considering the way he produces those results. The average velocities on all five pitches Ryu throws rank among MLB’s bottom 20. And the spin rates on his four-seam and two-seam fastballs are bottom 15. He’s not rolling out of bed and out-stuffing anyone.
Rather, he’s mixing and matching with that wide repertoire, using creative sequencing, elite command and cunning deception to stay ahead of the best hitters in the world. He’s speeding bats up and slowing them down. He’s disrupting timing. He’s staying off the heart of the plate, dropping sinkers on the outside corner to right-handed hitters and cutters on either side to lefties. He’s spotting changeups down-and-away glove-side, curveballs on the edge arm-side and four-seamers elevated at the letters.
He’s raising the batter’s eye level with high fastballs before plunging curveballs beneath the zone, a sequence he used to strike out Jeimer Candelario during Monday’s first inning. He’s picking corners to induce weak pop-up, flyball and groundball contact, as he did in order against Miguel Cabrera, Niko Goodrum and Wilson Ramos during the second.
He’s fluctuating velocities while maintaining his release point and delivery to disguise what’s coming, which was how he struck out Reyes in the third. He’s getting swing-and-miss with surprise, first-pitch changeups like the one Robbie Grossman whiffed awkwardly at in the fourth before making an out on a soft flare with an exit velocity of 77.6 m.p.h. He’s controlling the game, not letting the game control him.
“He’s definitely in command of what he does on the mound. He’s the type of guy who’s in command of anything he does,” said Blue Jays outfielder Jonathan Davis, who led off Monday with a solo shot to left. “Just seeing him around the ballpark, he has a specific schedule. He’s very disciplined in what he does. And it shows on the mound. That’s just who he is as a person.”
It’s a luxury for an organization to have in its best pitcher. Calm, poised and strictly regimented in his routines, Ryu’s the last player a club worries about getting ready for the season. You just give him what he needs and stay out of the way.
He has his own strength and conditioning protocol and an individualized off-season throwing program he’s been developing since he turned professional 15 years ago. He carries a plan into each spring outing with clearly defined goals he wants to accomplish. He listens closely to his body and knows when he needs extra work after his starts or whether he should prioritize rest. The Blue Jays don’t even decide when he’ll pitch next until the day after his latest outing, waiting to learn how he’s recovered overnight.
In season, he knows the numbers he wants ahead of starts and the data he doesn’t have any use for. He often skips between-start bullpen sessions, focusing instead on addressing any physical issues and crafting a well-considered game plan for his next opponent. When he does throw a side session, there’s a distinct reason for it — a particular pitch he wants to hone or a set of sequences he wants to drill. Nothing happens without purpose.
Knowing all that, you can imagine what a challenge 2020 was for Ryu. His pre-season preparation was interrupted by a pandemic, and when baseball resumed come summer he had to rush to ramp back up for a shortened season. You can see how it impacted him in his early outings. He allowed three runs over 4.2 innings in Toronto’s season opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, and five over 4.1 against the Washington Nationals six days later.
Those two outings stand in stark contrast to the remainder of his year. After surrendering eight runs over those first nine innings, he allowed 12 over his final 58. He pitched to a 1.86 ERA from his third start through the end of the season, featuring higher, more consistent velocity on all of his pitches. Routine is everything.
“I think the preparation is going pretty well right now considering we can have a normal spring training. Unlike last year where we got ready for the season and got shut down and had to get ready again in the summer in a very short time. It was very difficult in that aspect,” Ryu said through interpreter Jun Sung Park. “This year, coming into camp knowing that you can have a regular schedule, I feel more comfortable going in.
“Obviously, I don’t want to start off the season on a bad note. And last year was a difficult situation. I didn’t have a good start to the season. I don’t want to repeat the same thing as last year.”
An encouraging sign in that regard is Ryu’s velocity, which was right where it needed to be Monday, if not a tick higher. His four-seamer averaged 90.5 m.p.h. against the Tigers, reaching as high as 92.2. In 2020, it was 89.9, and the highest he averaged in a single start was 90.4. He threw only four fastballs all season over 92 m.p.h. Monday, he exceeded that mark twice.
That’s encouraging progress at a time of year when results don’t matter. That Ryu’s outcomes against the Tigers were stellar is merely an added bonus. For an athlete as disciplined and regimented as Ryu, the most important thing right now is nailing his pre-season preparation so he arrives at his opening day start feeling as strong and capable as possible. And then trying to sustain that form over the ensuing six months.
As a hitter, you’re never quite sure what Ryu’s going to do next. Sometimes, as Jansen learned Monday, you can’t be so certain as a catcher, either. But if MLB’s return to something resembling normalcy in 2021 is a benefit for anyone, it’s Ryu. And a benefit for Ryu is a benefit for the Blue Jays.
“He’s doing the same thing he always does — he does the same thing every day,” Montoyo said. “He knows what he’s doing. He knows what it takes to get ready for a big-league season.”
