Blue Jays happy to acquire Ryu Hyun-jin, both the pitcher and the man

Before the pitching-starved Toronto Blue Jays signed South Korean free agent pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin, general manager Ross Atkins had already heard positive things about the former Los Angeles Dodgers veteran, both as a teammate in the club house and as a person away from the field.

And Atkins said the story "really just kept getting better and better."

"From afar, the story was already very bright. We were already very encouraged about his influence in the club house and on people, and him as a man off the field," Atkins said at Ryu's introductory press conference at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday (local time). "Everything we'd learned was already positive and continued to get better and better. We reached out to (Ryu's former) teammates before and after the signing, and the story has remained the same."

The Jays signed Ryu, 32, to a four-year deal for US$80 million. It's the biggest pitching contract in team history, and also the largest commitment on Atkins' watch that began four years ago.

And if Ryu can match the on-field success he had in 2019 with the Dodgers, the Jays will be even happier. He led all of Major League Baseball (MLB) with a 2.32 ERA and finished second in the National League (NL) Cy Young Award voting. Ryu was the Dodgers' Opening Day starter and was the NL starter at the All-Star Game.

"One of the things we love most about our jobs is watching on a daily and nightly basis exceptional things happening on a baseball field," Atkins said. "And the more that we dug into Ryu, and spent time learning about him, the more excited we got, and the more exceptional he became to us."

The Blue Jays, considered a progressive, analytically driven club, saw in Ryu just the kind of veteran pitcher who can stabilize their inexperienced rotation. Though Ryu won't blow away anyone with heaters ― his average four-seam fastball velocity in 2019 was 90.9 mph, well below the major league average of 93.4 mph ― Atkins said the lefty can do so much with his command.

"He really stood out with his ability to command the ball so exceptionally well," the GM said. "He gets outs at every quadrant of the zone with four different pitches."

Then turning toward Ryu, Atkins said: "You truly are fun to watch play. It is remarkable what you already have accomplished, and we very much look forward to the success you're going to bring to this organization, and look forward to the day that you take the mound and you're representing two nations."

Atkins said it "felt like a holiday" as Blue Jays players and team officials exchanged text messages on how excited they were to have Ryu on board. Atkins added, "It speaks to the career he's already had and excitement that he'll bring to this organization."

Ryu is one of four pitchers that the Blue Jays signed this offseason. Before the South Korean, they added two MLB veterans, Tanner Roark and Chase Anderson, and signed Japanese league star Shun Yamaguchi. For Atkins and Co., Ryu was the icing on the cake.

"He's obviously an incredible complement. He's been the best of the best," he said. "It would be very hard to do better than him at this point in the offseason. Where we were in the offseason, thinking about how we could make our rotation better, our sights were pointed at Ryu."

Mark Shapiro, Blue Jays president, called this "an exciting day" for fans of the team across Toronto and in Korea. He also said Ryu's presence will galvanize the Korean community in Toronto and also further the Blue Jays brand internationally.

Asked if the marketing aspect of Ryu's acquisition had come into play, Shapiro said it was "a consideration, not a driving factor."

"I think it was more recognizing what an incredible international city Toronto is. We're very aware of the Korean population in Toronto here and what a tight-knit community it is," he said. "We felt like it'll be a great place for Ryu and his family to be, and will be a great synergy with Toronto and Canada in general. Certainly, it's something that we thought would make for a great alignment in the relationship moving forward." (Yonhap)