There’s been a lot of concern about Hyun Jin Ryu at the beginning of the year. His first two starts he let up 11 earned runs in 7 1/3 innings, and shortly afterwards was on the disabled list. Definitely a small sample size, but when combined with his previous 10 starts in 2021 (see below), it suggested reason for concern.
Ryu’s Post-August 4th Starts
Source: Created using Pybaseball with Python
While obviously extremely early, Ryu’s two starts since he returned from the injured list is extremely encouraging. He has yielded only a single earned run in 10 2/3 innings, for an under 1 ERA. In terms of who he pitched against for these two, it was two very different teams. The first start was against the division rival Tampa Bay Rays, who are currently a couple of games ahead of Toronto in the standings. Conversely, the other game was against the Cincinnati Reds, a team who despite being 7-3 in the previous ten games before facing Toronto for a three game series, have not had a great start to the season.
Source: Baseball Reference
Looking at the chart below with all of Ryu’s stats from 2021, up until August 3rd he was 11-5, with a 3.22 ERA. Starting with the August 8 start he went 3-5 until the end of the year. Hopefully the two starts has just had are indicative of how he’ll continue for the rest of the season, but of course time will tell.
Source: Baseball Reference
This post has obviously not aged well, with Ryu's injury.