March 28th, 2017 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka After two long years and a pair of surgeries, South Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu is finally … finally returning to the Dodgers starting rotation when the season begins on April 3.
“Ryu has thrown the ball well, built up enough. We feel confident going forward that he’ll be one of our five (starting pitchers),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Ryu’s five-inning start against the Chicago White Sox on Monday. “He’s given us no reason not to be [in the starting rotation]. We feel a healthy Hyun-Jin is a good thing. We expect him to be one of our five.”
Although Ryu was touched up for a pair of home runs in is longest outing since September 6, 2014, he pitched well, allowing three runs on five hits with four strikeouts and no walks in his 5.0 innings of work.
“I’m satisfied with where I’m at. I’m definitely healthier than I expected coming into spring training,” Ryu said through an interpreter after Monday’s outing. “Because I was able to raise up the pitch count (77) and also the innings, I’m very satisfied. From how I feel right now, I’m definitely confident that I can pitch every five days for this team.”
After two years and two surgeries, veteran South Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu is finally returning to the Dodgers starting rotation. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
As it stands right now, the Dodgers Opening Day rotation will consist of Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Ryu and either 33-year-old right-hander Brandon McCarthy or 26-year-old left-hander Alex Wood. And though McCarthy and Wood have had relatively similar springs, (McCarthy with a 4.85 ERA, 7 strikeouts and one walk in 15.0 innings pitched and Wood a 3.18 ERA, 11 strikeouts and two walks in 11.1 innings pitched), having four lefties in their starting rotation is a less-than-ideal situation but certainly workable.
The Dodgers have a split squad game on Tuesday, with half of the team traveling to Goodyear to take on the Cincinnati Reds and the other hosting that San Diego Padres at Camelback Ranch. Roberts told reporters that he will travel to Goodyear to personally witness what will likely Alex Wood’s longest start of the spring to help him decide between McCarthy and Wood as his fifth starter, with the other going into the Dodgers bullpen to begin the season.
“Alex is throwing the heck out of the baseball. Love the compete,” Roberts said.
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I’m glad he’s looking good but I’d put money on him going back down.
I wish him the best but I’m in your camp, Linda.
Hold that crow.
I’m with the both of you. Ryu’s early success is encouraging but it’s a long season and there’s no telling what the rotation will look like at the finish line. If Ryu is still there at the All-Star break, then we might consider looking for “crow” recipes online… but until then…
…hold the crow!
I’m happy for Ryu. He looked good in yesterday’s start.
Food TV has some great recipes for preparing crow. Need to see how Ryu pitches for a few months, but never too early to start combing through those recipes. 🙂
I’ll leave the crow eating to my cat. When other players with labrum surgery were saying it took 2 years for the shoulder to feel normal (and none that I heard about were pitchers) it was clear that Ryu and everybody who was writing him off last year were being impatient.
I believed last year, and still believe he’ll be all the way back. In fact, considering that next week will be his first MLB game with a healthy shoulder, he could even be a bit better than before.
I do believe he’s not at his peak yet and will continue to improve as the season goes along. I think we’ll see an even better pitcher by time he reaches start #16.