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[이데일리 스타in 임정우 기자] Toronto Blue Jays ace Hyun-jin Ryu, 34, made it to the top spot in MLB.com’s opening game starter evaluation.
MLB.com announced on the website the ranking of the starting pitchers for each team for the opening game of the regular league in 2021, which starts on April 2nd on the 28th (hereinafter Korean time). Ryu Hyun-jin, who started the first regular league game against the New York Yankees at 2:05 am on April 2 at the New York Yankee Stadium, placed 6th out of a total of 30 starting pitchers.
MLB.com said that Ryu Hyun-jin was ranked in the top 3 for the second year in a row in the Cy Young’s poll to determine the league’s best pitcher. He added that if Ryu Hyun-jin throws 182⅔ innings at the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 and shows off his performance, the Toronto club will feel thrilled.
Ryu Hyun-jin scored 88 points in the 2019 National League Cy Youngs poll, which he played for the Dodgers, and took second place alone after Jacob Digrom (New York Mets). In 2020, the first year of his move to Toronto, he ranked third after Shane Bieber (Cleveland Indians) and Maeda Genta (Minnesota Twins) with 51 points.
Unlike last year, when only 60 games per team were played due to the pandemic of Corona 19, this year’s 30 major league teams returned to 162 games per team after two years. Players who are considered as aces for each team must throw more than any pitcher on the team, and must keep the starting rotation consistently.
The first place was won by Beaver, who showed off his climax last year. The National League’s strong Cy Young candidate DiGrom followed in second place. The Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who clashed with Ryu Hyun-jin, was in third place. MLB.com said Cole is the first full season for the Yankees, and the Yankees predicted that they would need an overwhelming pitching and endurance beyond what Cole had previously shown.
Darvish Yu, who moved to the San Diego Padres, was in fourth place, and Clayton Kershaw (the Dodgers) took fifth place.