All-Star stage a new level for NL starter Ryu

When Chan Ho Park became the first Korean player in an MLB All-Star Game in 2001, a 14-year-old Hyun Jin Ryu was inspired to chase that same dream. No doubt today there are 14-year-olds in Seoul that 18 years from now will recall how Ryu’s historic start in today’s MLB All-Star Game inspired them to follow him.

• All-Star Game presented by Mastercard: Today, 4:30 p.m. PT on FOX

Maybe they’ll get a congratulatory text from Ryu like the one he received last week from Park, one Dodgers trailblazer connecting with the next generation’s.

Ryu is a seven-time All-Star and four-time All-Star Game starter, but that was back home in the Korean Baseball Organization. Kenley Jansen warned him about the autograph and time demands he’ll face in Cleveland.

“Actually it’s very different, on the field and off the field, all the things that go on with the All-Star Game is completely different here,” said Ryu. “In Korea, it’s more about celebrating all these players and everybody is not really trying their best. They show up and have fun with the fans. Whereas this seems to be much more serious here in the States.”

Considering the circuitous path Ryu has traveled to this point, some might be surprised he reached it. Considering his dominance back home from ages 19 to 25, it’s probably more surprising it took this long. Blown out shoulders can really mess with a pitcher’s timetable.

The 2015 shoulder labrum surgery, combined with an elbow cleanup, was so serious that Ryu missed all but one start in 2015-16. He went 973 days between wins, and he wasn’t sure there would be a future in baseball -- let alone this.

“It’s kind of funny, because the performance I had in Korea really wasn’t even as good as I’m having right now,” Ryu said. “Obviously, Major League Baseball being as tough as it is, I knew I could compete to a certain extent, but not to a level that I’m doing right now.

“I thought I knew how this [rehab] process worked, especially because I had Tommy John surgery in high school. But coming back from the shoulder surgery was definitely more than I expected or anticipated. Then process was the lowest part of my life. People were doubting me. There were many people saying it’s one of the toughest injuries to come back from. But I try to focus on the goal of coming back and pitching again and cancel all the noises out. To be completely honest, it wasn’t easy at all.”

National League and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts just knows that the selection of Ryu to pitch the first inning on Tuesday night was one of the easiest decisions he’s made, which is why he announced it more than a week ahead of the press conference scheduled to unveil it.

“For me it’s very easy. Hyun-Jin’s been the best pitcher in the National League the entire season,” said Roberts. “For me, having him be the National League starter is a no-brainer.”

The season opened 3 1/2 months ago with Ryu becoming the Dodgers first Korean Opening Day starter since Park, as the fourth choice (Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Rich Hill battled Spring injuries). Now he’s 10-2 with an MLB-leading 1.73 ERA, 99 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 109 innings.

That’s what the Dodgers hoped they were getting when they put up $62.7 million in salary and posting fees to his Korean Hanwan Eagles to sign Ryu to a six-year contract in 2013 and make him the first Korean professional to go directly to the Major Leagues.

Ryu had been the first player to win the MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season in Korea, a strikeout pitcher with a fastball in the low-90s, a swing-and-miss changeup and biting slider. He helped Korea to the finals of the 2009 World Baseball Classic and the gold medal in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Ryu arrived at his first Dodgers Spring Training out of shape, but back-to-back 14-win seasons out of the gate earned him some slack until the shoulder tore.

Since the surgeries, Ryu has stepped up offseason training and added a cutter, providing a rare four-pitch finesse mix in an era when most pitchers simply try to overpower hitters who are trying to hit every pitch as far as a they can. He’s big but agile, can field his position and swing a bat. He’s a bigger version of Fernando Valenzuela, without the screwball.

Ryu’s history is that of rising to the occasion -- as long as he’s healthy. Perhaps because of his quiet personality, as well as his reliance on an interpreter for interviews seven years after his arrival, he flies under most radars.

“He’s very underrated,” said Justin Turner. “If he doesn’t miss two months last year [with a torn groin muscle], he’s in the Cy Young conversation. Very underrated, and I think he kind of likes it that way. He wants to show up, do his job and doesn’t care about the accolades, but he deserves them all.”

Ryu seamlessly added the cutter to his pitch repertoire last year when pitching coach Rick Honeycutt tweaked his slider grip.

“The pitch came naturally to me,” Ryu said.

Mastering a new pitch can be a career crisis for some pitchers, but Ryu has an effortless way about him. Consider this: A natural right-hander, the first baseball glove Ryu received from his father was a left-hander’s glove for his right hand -- so Ryu taught himself to throw left-handed.

Some credit for Ryu’s improvement stems from taking a more active role in the game-planning for starts, a suggestion from Honeycutt that Ryu embraced.

“Just like in anything, it’s way better if you’re learning actively than passively,” Ryu said. “My first few years I was learning passively, but the last two years I have been more active in studying the hitters and that’s resulted in better sequences and it’s upped my game. Honey definitely pushed me to be an active learner and prepare for games.”

Ryu has his quirks. He skips traditional bullpen sessions between starts, and even in warm-ups between innings seems to toss at half-speed, as if he saves as much effort as possible for only the moments that count most.

Like Tuesday night.