Amateur In 2004, Ryu underwent
Tommy John surgery and did not pitch in any official games. In the 2006 season, at the age of 19, he became the first Korean player to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP at the same time in 25 years, and the second pitcher to win the Triple Crown after
Sun Dong-yol. In
2006, he participated in the
Asian Games. In August 2008, Ryu competed for the
South Korea national baseball team in the
2008 Summer Olympics, where they won the gold medal in the baseball tournament. In the team's third game of round-robin play, Ryu pitched a 1–0 complete-game shutout victory over
Canada, giving up five hits. In the gold medal game against
Cuba, he pitched 8 innings, allowing two earned runs in a 3–2 victory. In March 2009, he represented the South Korea national baseball team in the
2009 World Baseball Classic, where the team was the runner-up to the eventual champion, Japan. In 2010, Ryu played in the
2010 Asian Games, where South Korea won the gold medal in baseball. On May 11, 2010, Ryu became the first pitcher in history to strike out 17 batters in a nine-inning game, against the
LG Twins at
Cheongju Sports Complex Baseball Stadium.
2013 On March 17, 2013, Ryu recorded his first win as a Dodger, albeit in a spring training game on
St. Patrick's Day. He allowed just one run in innings, and retired the final 11 men he faced. He struck out six and allowed just five to reach base. Ryu made his Major League Baseball debut in a start against the
San Francisco Giants on April 2, 2013. He allowed 10 hits in 6.1 innings but only one earned run. Ryu picked up his first Major League win on April 7 over the
Pittsburgh Pirates. On April 13 against the
Arizona Diamondbacks, he recorded his first major league hit with a double in the third inning. He wound up 3 for 3 at the plate in the game, the first Dodgers pitcher to get three hits in a game since
Randy Wolf in
2009. This game was also his 100th career win, in South Korea and the U.S. combined. On May 1, 2013, Ryu pitched six innings against the
Colorado Rockies and struck out 12 batters, his highest strikeout count in an MLB game so far. On May 28, 2013, Ryu pitched a complete-game shutout against the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, striking out seven batters, walking none, and conceding only two hits. It was the first shutout in Ryu's MLB career and the first shutout for a Korean-born pitcher since
Chan Ho Park and
Sun-woo Kim. In 30 starts with the Dodgers in 2013, Ryu was 14–8 with a 3.00 ERA. He was selected by
Baseball America to their annual "All-Rookie team". On October 6, 2013, Ryu became the first South Korean to serve as the starting pitcher of a
Major League Baseball postseason game.
2014 In his first start of the 2014 season in Sydney, Australia, Ryu held the D-backs scoreless in five innings of work. He proceeded to start 26 games for the Dodgers in 2014, despite missing time with various injuries. He finished 14–7 with a 3.38 ERA.
2015 Ryu began spring training with optimism that he would be able to pitch a career high 200 innings in 2015. However, he was shut down early in camp with back tightness, though he said he was not concerned by it. When he started throwing again he experienced a sore shoulder and the Dodgers decided to shut him down for two weeks. Despite report that Ryu was pain free in April, the Dodgers took precautions and placed him on the 60-day disabled list on May 4 in view of his sporadic shoulder pain during the previous season. The Dodgers noted a lack of velocity in his bullpen session soon afterwards, and Ryu decided to have a surgery on his shoulder to alleviate the problem. On May 21, Ryu had a surgery to repair his left shoulder labrum and ended his chances of pitching during the 2015 season.
2016 Ryu eventually rejoined the Dodgers on July 7, 2016, and started against the
San Diego Padres. He allowed eight hits, four of them for extra bases in 4 innings of a 6–0 loss. However, he reported elbow discomfort after the game and was placed back on the disabled list. On September 28, he underwent debridement surgery on his left elbow.
2017 After losing his first four decisions of the season, Ryu picked up his first major league win since the 2014 season on April 30, 2017, in a 5–3 win against the
Philadelphia Phillies. On May 25, he pitched four scoreless innings out of the bullpen to pick up his first major league save in a 7–4 win against the
St. Louis Cardinals. Ryu made 24 starts in 2017 for the Dodgers (and one relief appearance) and was 5–9 with a 3.77 ERA, 116 strikeouts and 45 walks.
2018 Ryu began the season 3–0 with a 2.12 ERA in 6 starts before landing on the disabled list with a groin injury. He was placed on the 60-day disabled list on June 2, 2018. Overall, Ryu made 15 starts with the team, going 7–3 with 1.97 ERA, posting 85 strikeouts and 15 walks. On October 24, 2018, Ryu became the first Korean pitcher to start in a
World Series game when he started in
Game 2 of the series at Fenway Park in Boston. Ryu became a free agent after the season, but accepted the Dodgers one-year, $17.9 million, qualifying offer to remain with the club for 2019.
2019 Ryu was named the Dodgers opening day starter for the
2019 season after injuries to
Clayton Kershaw and
Rich Hill. On May 7, 2019, Ryu pitched his second career complete-game shutout against the
Atlanta Braves. He struck out six, walked none, and gave up four hits in the 9–0 victory. In his next start against the
Washington Nationals on May 12, 2019, he had a no-hit bid before giving a double to
Gerardo Parra in the eighth inning with one out. He finished the game with 8 innings pitched, struck out nine, walked one, and gave up that one hit in a 6–0 win against the
Washington Nationals. His two pitching performances earned him
NL Player of the Week. He followed this performance with 7 shutout innings against the
Cincinnati Reds on May 19, 2019, extending his streak of consecutive scoreless innings pitched to 31. This streak is tied for the tenth longest in Dodgers' history and is 28 fewer than the team record of 59 set by
Orel Hershiser in 1988. Ryu won
MLB Pitcher of the Month in May, going 5–0 with a 0.59 ERA, striking out 36 batters, walking 3 batters, while allowing three earned runs. He was selected to be the National League's starting pitcher for his first all-star appearance at the
2019 MLB All-Star Game. On September 22, Ryu hit his first career home run off of
Antonio Senzatela of the
Colorado Rockies. He finished the regular season with a record of 14–5, an MLB season-leading ERA of 2.32 and the lowest walks per nine innings ratio of 1.183. Ryu came in second in voting for the
National League Cy Young Award.
Toronto Blue Jays (2020–2023) On December 27, 2019, Ryu signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the
Toronto Blue Jays. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Jays 2020 season did not begin until July 24. On this day, Hyun-jin made his Blue Jays debut as the
Opening Day starting pitcher, throwing 4 innings in Toronto's 6–4 victory over the
Tampa Bay Rays. He went on to finish the regular season with a 5–2 record over 12 starts with a 2.69 ERA over 62 innings pitched with 72 strikeouts and 17 walks. On September 24, 2020, in his final regular season start, Ryu became the first Blue Jays' starting pitcher in that season to pitch into the seventh inning and the second starter to throw 100 pitches, while also yielding zero runs, five hits, and two walks, while compiling four strikeouts and the winning decision in a 4–1 victory over the
New York Yankees to help clinch the Blue Jays' first postseason berth since 2016. He finished third in voting for the 2020 American League Cy Young award, and won the
Warren Spahn Award, presented each season by the
Oklahoma Sports Museum to the best
left-handed pitcher in
Major League Baseball (MLB). Hyun-jin made 31 starts for Toronto in 2021, pitching to a 14–10 record and 4.37 ERA with 143 strikeouts and 37 walks in 169.0 innings of work. In 2022, Ryu made six starts for the Blue Jays, limping to a 2–0 record and 5.67 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 27.0 innings pitched. On June 2, 2022, he was pulled from a start against the
Chicago White Sox shortly after reaching 1,000 career innings pitched. He was later diagnosed with damage to his
ulnar collateral ligament and underwent
Tommy John surgery on June 18. On August 1, 2023, Ryu made his season debut and his first start in a year with the Blue Jays in a 3–13 losing effort against the
Baltimore Orioles. He became a free agent following the season.
Hanwha Eagles (2024–present) On February 20, 2024, Ryu reached an agreement to return to South Korea to play for his old team, the Hanwha Eagles, for eight years and 17 billion
won, the largest contract in KBO League history. ==Pitching style==