LOS ANGELES — Of course, Dodger fans know that Hye-seong Kim will be repping the colors for Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic this spring, but there is another familiar name on the roster that might surprise you: pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, so instrumental to Dodger success in the last decade, is making one final appearance at the WBC for his home country.
The reason for the surprise is not his talent. Indeed, Ryu put up great numbers his entire Dodger career. The reason is that Ryu hasn’t thrown a big league pitch in the last two seasons. After a long stateside career, Ryu has been pitching in the KBO, for the Hanwa Eagles. Team Korea will be hoping that Ryu’s experience will more than make up for any diminished stuff that the nearly 38-year-old lefty might show at this stage in his career.
But let’s step back a second and look at Ryu’s Dodger career, which was remarkably good. He pitched for the boys in blue from 2013 to 2019, putting up a 3.25 ERA along the way. His best year was his All-Star campaign of 2019, when he went 14-5 with a 2.32 ERA, finishing second to Jacob deGrom in Cy Young voting that season. Then, in 2020, he elected free agency and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, where he finished his MLB career.
In 2023, Ryu signed with the Eagles in a very lucrative deal, the highest KBO contract ever struck: eight year for 17 billion won (roughly $12 million USD).
And now, it’s on the the WBC. The reason for selecting Ryu Hyun-jin and another veteran, Noh Keun-eung, 42 years old was simple: experience. Manager Ji-hyun Ryu (no relation) said, “After the November evaluation games, I became convinced that ‘we need experienced players… Although they are definitely older by our age count, they showed good performance in the 2025 season. There will be games in the tournament where they need to fulfill their roles.”
The last few WBC tournaments have been disappointments for the Korean team. They are looking to advance out of the first round for the first time since 2009. MLB Network analyst Jon Paul Morosi likes the position player group (led by the Giants’ Joon-Ho Lee), but isn’t sure that Ryu has “enough left in the tank” to compete on this elite level.
Regardless, when LA fans watch Team Korea next month, they’ll be able to cheer for two Dodgers, one who wears the colors today in Hye-seong Kim, and another who made an All-Star team as the powerhouse Dodgers were starting to take shape.
We’ll be watching both players with great interest going forward.
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