Toronto Blue Jays place Hyun-jin Ryu on injured list after struggles

A lot of attention has been on Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu’s early struggles, and it appears as if it could be down to an injury he has been carrying.

Toronto Blue Jays left handed pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu has had a challenging start to the 2022 season, and the team have placed him on the 10-day injured list with reported forearm inflammation – likely the cause of his struggles.

The 35-year-old veteran from Incheon, South Korea, has pitched 7.1 innings in two games with the Blue Jays this season and has allowed a league-worst 11 earned runs, with his ERA sitting at a whopping 13.50 at the time of writing.

The two games he has featured in have resulted in losses to the Texas Rangers (12-6) and Oakland Athletics (7-5) and a lot of attention has been given to Ryu’s performances in both.

With the one-time All-Star and two-time top three Cy Young Award nominee now landing on the injured list with soreness and inflammation in his throwing arm, it should allow him enough time to recover and get himself back to fitness before returning to action.

Ryu, in the third year of his four-year, $80 million contract with the Blue Jays, won 14 games for the team last season and carries a 4.18 ERA in 243.1 total innings pitched since arriving in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

The team will no doubt be hoping to see him return to the level of performances seen earlier in his MLB career, which saw him with the league’s ERA title with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 with 2.32 and saw him named to the All-MLB second team in back-to-back years in 2019 and 2020.

The Toronto Blue Jays have plenty of depth at the pitcher position to cover for Ryu’s absence, with Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Alex Manoah while Jordan Romano has looked exceptionally good – allowing zero runs through six full innings pitched so far this season.

If Hyun-jin Ryu can recover from his injury in good time and return to the starting rotation, performing at the level expected of him, then the Blue Jays’ hunt for the post-season will be bolstered and the veteran will once again be living up to the high salary he is earning.