Ryu unleashes blazing fastballs on the mound

The ‘Korean Monster,’ Ryu Hyun-jin, took the mound at Daejeon Stadium, the home field of the Hanwha Eagles, for the first time in 4,172 days.

Ryu took the starting position for the White Team in a practice game held on Thursday, allowing a two-base hit and giving up one score in three innings. In the game that employed the automatic ball-strike system (ABS), Ryu struck out three hitters and allowed one walk. Of his 46 pitches, 23 were fastballs, with 10 curveballs, nine changeups, and four cutters. Ryu’s fastball clocked in at 143 kilometers per hour in the initial inning, marking a significant improvement of 4 kilometers per hour from his previous best (139 km/h), which was recorded during a training camp in Okinawa, Japan.

Although it was only a practice game, fans eagerly anticipated Ryu Hyun-jin’s return to the field after 11 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Hanwha Eagles live-streamed the game on the club’s YouTube channel, “Eagles TV,” which garnered 79,997 concurrent viewers, setting a record.


Kyu-In Hwang kini@donga.com