Ryu has first live pitching in Toronto Blue Jay

The Toronto Blue Jay’s new ace pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin matched against Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is the rising star of the team at a spring camp near TD Ball Park in Dunedin, Florida on Wednesday local time. The 32-year-old Korean pitcher did the first live pitching, which is a training with all batters at bat like a real game.

The highlight of the day was the match between Ryu and Guerrero Jr., the son of 2018 Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr. The legendary baseball player hit home runs whether the ball was good or bad and recorded 449 home runs during his career.

Guerrero Jr. who received the genes from his father showed potential by hitting 15 home runs last year, which was his first year at Major League. Also at the Home Run Derby, he hit as many as 91 home runs.

Ryu finished Wednesday training after pitching 25 balls to four batters as well as 10 more balls in the bull pen. “I will increase the number of pitches to 80 by the end of the spring camp,” said Ryu. “I tried not to hit my teammates with the ball today.”

He will have another live pitching before an exhibition match. The Toronto Blue Jay’s first exhibition match is scheduled on Sunday.


Heon-Jae Lee uni@donga.com