Ryu 'felt good' in taking first spring step

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Charlie Montoyo’s favorite way to describe Hyun Jin Ryu's outings is for the Blue Jays skipper to say the ace left-hander looked like, well, Hyun Jin Ryu. It’s high praise.

Ryu was back to his old ways again with two strong innings in his spring debut on Friday afternoon in a 13-4 win over the Orioles at TD Ballpark. His second inning wasn’t quite as sharp, including surrendering a solo home run and missing some spots, but he was in peak form as he mowed through a 1-2-3 first inning.

There doesn’t tend to be many surprises with Ryu, and that’s what the Blue Jays love about their ace. After the outing, Ryu, calm as ever, felt good about step one.

• Notes: Merryweather flexible, Palacios' start

“I was getting the strikes I needed to,” Ryu said. “The home run that I gave up, obviously it was a missed pitch, but overall, I felt pretty good today.”

In the early stages of Spring Training, you’ll often see a pitcher hone in on one location or one pitch in an outing. For some, they might start with a heavy fastball day, trying to lock in their primary pitch before moving on to their secondary stuff. For others, there are starts where they’ll lean heavily on a curveball against left-handers, for example, testing that pitch before the stats count on April 1.

Ryu doesn’t care much for that. He knows what he’s capable of, so March is all about getting to the start line strong and healthy.

“I can throw all of my pitches right now and secondaries as well,” Ryu said. “At this time of the camp, I’m just worried about my pitch count and making sure that is up. I can throw all of my secondary pitches at any time right now, so it’s not a big deal for me.”

Ryu threw 30 pitches on Friday, sitting in the high 80s, which will slowly creep up to the 90-92 mph range that he typically lives in through the season. He also threw 15 more pitches in a side session after he left the game, which he often did in 2020 camp as he ramped up his pitch count.

What impressed catcher Danny Jansen most was the precision of Ryu’s delivery. While some pitchers use Spring Training to settle back into their delivery and reestablish consistency, Ryu walked out in his first game action and was hitting the same release point, over and over.

“That’s everything,” Jansen said. “The repetitions, getting in the same spot, it’s being a perfectionist, I think, in Ryu. He’s obviously a master at his craft, landing in the same spot, same release point. Not only as a pitcher, but as a hitter, seeing everything come out of the same slot and the same place is crucial. For him to be able to repeat it like that is just Ryu doing Ryu things.”

Every team “needs” their ace to be their ace, of course, but it’s especially true for the Blue Jays. This rotation has depth beyond the starting five, with plenty of young arms, but it still needs to add some upside when you look ahead to a potential postseason run. Yes, there’s significant upside in No. 1 prospect Nate Pearson, and Robbie Ray could rekindle his 2017 form, but it’s still possible an upgrade will be needed in-season.

Without Ryu, this rotation can’t fall back on a second ace or an established No. 2 starter like many other postseason contenders. Even with the young core in place and big offseason additions in George Springer and Marcus Semien, Ryu is this organization’s most irreplaceable player, which makes him its most important.