Hyun Jin Ryu

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked Los Angeles Dodgers #1 prospect in 2013
  The Dodgers have known Ryu since he was in high school and followed him throughout his pro career in Korea. He had Tommy John surgery as an amateur yet took the Korean Baseball Organization by storm in 2006 when he went 18-6, 2.23 for Hanwha at age 19 and became the first player in league history to win rookie of the year and MVP awards in the same season. Ryu won two games for South Korea at the 2008 Olympics, including the gold-medal victory over Cuba. He worked in relief at the 2009 World Baseball Classic and kept putting up numbers in the KBO. He led the league in strikeouts five times in his seven seasons, including last year with 210 in 183 innings, and compiled a 98-52, 2.80 record. However, he went just 9-9 in 2012 for Hanwha and at times seemed bored pitching against inferior hitters for the KBO's worst team. Ryu repeatedly had expressed a desire to play in the United States, and Hanwha granted his wish by posting him after the season. Los Angeles, continuing its new willingness to spend to the max, submitted the winning bid of $25,737,737.33 in November. He was represented by Scott Boras and negotiations stretched to the limit of the 30-day window to come to terms, after which Ryu would have had to return to Hanwha. On the same December weekend that the Dodgers made Zack Greinke the second-highest paid pitcher in big league history, they got a deal done with Ryu. He signed a six-year, $36 million contract that included a $5 million bonus and an opt-out clause after five seasons if he reaches certain performance levels. Ryu has the weapons to step into Los Angeles' rotation immediately. He runs his fastball up to 94 mph and sits at 92-93. His heater has some cutting action and he can locate it to both sides of the plate. Most scouts who watched him in Korea thought his changeup was his best secondary offering, though the Dodgers believe more in his slider. Both are quality options. His slider is crisp with sharp, late break when he has it going. He does sometimes get around the ball, causing the slider to get slurvy. He gets good arm speed on his fading changeup, eliciting some swings and misses with it. He also has a fourth pitch in a slow curveball he can flip up to the plate. The curve has good depth but sits in the high 60s, and he uses it mainly as an early-count pitch. Ryu isn't a bad athlete, but he has a portly build and will have to keep his weight in check. He had gotten overweight at the end of 2012 but is back in shape. He does a fine job of repeating his delivery, throwing strikes and getting downhill plane on his pitches. Some major league teams were wary of his workload in Korea, where he worked 1,269 innings in seven years from ages 19-25. Ryu's contract includes a clause that forbids him from being sent to the minor leagues without his consent. That shouldn't be an issue. The first player to go directly from the KBO to the major leagues, he'll become the Dodgers' No. 3 starter behind Clayton Kershaw and Greinke.

Top 100 Rankings

• Ranked Baseball America's #42 prospect in 2013

• December, 2012 Scouting Report
  Background: The Dodgers have known Ryu since he was in high school and followed him throughout his pro career in Korea. He had Tommy John surgery as an amateur yet took the Korean Baseball Organization by storm in 2006 when he went 18-6, 2.23 for Hanwha at age 19 and became the first player in league history to win rookie of the year and MVP awards in the same season. Ryu won two games for South Korea at the 2008 Olympics, highlighted by his 81⁄3 innings in a 3-2 gold-medal victory against Cuba. He worked in relief at the 2009 World Baseball Classic and kept putting up numbers in the KBO. He led the league in strikeouts five times in his seven seasons, including last year with 210 in 183 innings, and compiled a 98-52, 2.80 record. However, he went just 9-9 in 2012 for Hanwha and at times seemed bored pitching against inferior hitters for the KBO's worst team. Ryu repeatedly had expressed a desire to play in the United States, and Hanwha granted his wish by posting him after the season. Los Angeles, continuing its new willingness to spend to the max, submitted the winning bid of $25,737,737.33 in November. Represented by Scott Boras, Ryu's negotiations with the Dodgers stretched to the limit of the 30-day window, after which he would have had to return to Hanwha. On the same December weekend that the Dodgers made Zack Greinke the second-highest paid pitcher in big league history, they got a deal done with Ryu. He signed a six-year, $36 million contract that included a $5 million bonus and an opt-out clause after five seasons if he reaches certain performance levels. Scouting Report: Ryu has the weapons to step into Los Angeles' rotation immediately. He runs his fastball up to 94 mph and sits at 92-93. His heater has some cutting action and he can locate it to both sides of the plate. Most scouts who watched him in Korea thought his changeup was his best secondary offering, though the Dodgers believe more in his slider. Both are quality options. His slider is crisp with sharp, late break when he has it going. He does sometimes get around the ball when he's not able to pitch out front, causing the slider to get slurvy. He gets good arm speed on his fading changeup, eliciting some swings and misses with it. He also has a fourth pitch in a slow curveball he can flip up to the plate. The curve has good depth but sits in the high 60s, and he uses it mainly as an early-count pitch. Ryu isn't a bad athlete, but he has a portly build and will have to keep his weight in check. He had gotten overweight at the end of 2012 but is back in shape. He does a fine job of repeating his delivery, throwing strikes and getting downhill plane on his pitches. Some major league teams were wary of his workload in Korea, where he logged 1,269 innings in seven years from ages 19-25, combined with his having had Tommy John surgery as an amateur. He threw more than 200 innings in each of his first two KBO seasons at ages 19 and 20. The Future: Ryu's contract includes a clause that forbids him from being sent to the minor leagues without his consent. That shouldn't be an issue. Projected to be the first player to go directly from the KBO to the majors, he'll be the Dodgers' No. 3 starter behind Clayton Kershaw and Greinke.