Hyun Jin Ryu is best pitcher in MLB, on pace to start All-Star game

AsianPlayers | June 5, 2019 | Baseball | No Comments

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You wind him up and he spins seven shutout innings. Or eight, or nine, with a bunch of strikeouts and no walks. It can’t possibly be as easy as that, but Hyun-Jin Ryu is plowing through National League lineups with nary a blemish, across parts of three months and nine starts.

The Dodgers’ left-hander is 8-1, with 69 strikeouts and four walks in 59 1/3 innings for an MLB-leading 14.75 S0/9, a baseball leading 1.48 ERA and an NL-leading 0.742 WHIP. He’s swatting away left-hand bats (.200/.505) and right-hand bats (.186/.525); he’s great at home (1.22, .177/.468) and dandy on the road (2.01, .213/.601). He was effective in March/April (2.95, .248/.728) and otherworldly to date in May (0.28, .133/.310). He’s in the midst (dare I say “middle”) of a 31 inning scoreless streak and is scheduled to go Saturday versus Joe Musgrove at Pittsburgh.

The question now isn’t whether he’ll make the 2019 NL All-Star team or not; it’s whether he’ll start the thing. Los Angeles’ skipper Dave Roberts will manage the NL squad again this year, which helps. The league loves to market the international mix to today’s rosters. That helps too. This year’s game is in Cleveland (July 9) so there’s no home field pitcher to consider.

So it’s going to come down to performance up until the break — obviously — and whether this particular starter pitches on the Sunday prior to the game, which would make him ineligible to play. He’d still make the team if the numbers dictate, he’d participate in the various ASG activities and promotions, but he wouldn’t pitch. That’s a rule now and a good one.

As it stands right now, today, if Ryu were to make every fifth start in turn, he would pitch the Sunday before the All-Star Game, July 7 at home vs. San Diego. There are two off days on the schedule between now and then (excluding today), however, and given how L.A. juggles guys in the rotation as a matter of course, Ryu could easily end up making his last start on July 6, giving him two days of rest before the ASG, or even July 5, which would allow him three full days of rest between outings. With Roberts calling the shots, limiting his man to the first inning would be a piece of cake, especially given how the exhibitions are run these days.