Yesterday the Major League Baseball Players Association announced the three finalists for “Comeback Player of The Year”– the Braves Josh Donaldson, the Reds Sonny Gray, and the Dodgers Hyun-Jin Ryu.
The National League #MLBPlayers have voted!
Your 2019 Players Choice Awards Comeback Player NL finalists are @BringerOfRain20, @HyunJinRyu99 & #SonnyGray! #PlayersChoiceAwards2019 winners announced next week!https://t.co/hpAxcs5MFV pic.twitter.com/X84UphZcqo
— MLBPA (@MLB_PLAYERS) October 14, 2019
Ryu has been marred with injuries throughout his major league career. In 2018 he began the season on a strong note with a 2.22 ERA through 5 starts but in the 2nd inning of his 6th start on May 2nd, Ryu suffered an injury which was later found out to be a groin strain with the muscle tearing completely from the bone. He missed over 3 months making his first appearance back from his injury on August 15th. By the end of the season, he finished with a 1.97 ERA in 15 starts and 82.1 innings pitched.
This season Ryu recorded 182.2 innings pitched which is the first time since 2014 he’s put in 150+ innings worth of work. He also posted the lowest ERA (2.32) among all pitchers in baseball that qualified for the ERA title. It was the most productive season in his MLB career as he put up a 5.1 bWAR surpassing his previous high of 3.4 in 2013, his rookie year.
Chances are likely that Ryu will be chosen as a finalist for the Cy Young award. He’ll officially become a free agent a day after the World Series ends. It’ll be interesting to see how hard the Dodgers will pursue him in the off-season.
Oskar is a contributor to Dodgers-Lowdown. Follow him on Twitter @2Rawsko94. Featured image photographer: Kelley L Cox/USA Today.