Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Blue Jays‘ left-handed starting pitcher, will miss the rest of the season after having to undergo surgery on his pitching elbow, the team said on Tuesday. Since he’s had a comparable procedure done in 2004, it’s not yet clear how extensive the next operation will be.
In any case, Ryu’s 2022 season is finished, and he’ll have a long road to recovery, particularly if the complete treatment is the course chosen with his elbow. In 2023, Ryu, 35, will be entering the last season of a four-year, $80 million contract.
In six starts, he had a 5.67 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP with 16 strikeouts and four walks in 27 innings while dealing with ailments almost from the start of the season. At the start of this year’s season against him, opponents were hitting.294 (541) with a.541 slugging percentage, and he gave up six runs on five hits in only 3 1/3 innings of work.
What will Toronto do now without Ryu?
The silver lining of the Blue Jays is that they are resilient enough to take this setback. As of now, Kevin Gausman is the only starter in the five-man rotation.
Alek Manoah is the only other starter in the group. Stripling began the season as a relief pitcher, but his past two starts, in particular, have shown that he can succeed as a starter (zero runs on two hits in 11 innings).
