2018 Dodgers Review: Hyun-Jin Ryu

Though he missed over three months with an injury, Hyun-Jin Ryu had arguably his best season as a Dodger.

What went right

Ryu finished with the lowest ERA (1.97) of his career. Not only that, his strikeout rate per nine innings (9.7) was the best of his career as well.

After he returned from a three-month DL stint, Ryu was among one of the best starters in all of baseball to close out the season. His ERA of 1.88 was the third lowest in the NL. On top of that, his 0.9 walks per nine innings led all of baseball.

In six of his final nine starts, Ryu allowed either one run or less. He also allowed four hits or less in six of his final nine starts.

His best stretch was during the final three games of the season, where he allowed only one run in 19 innings, striking out 16.

What went wrong

Things weren’t as smooth sailing for Ryu in October. He had a dominant start in game one of the NLDS, but struggled vitally the rest of the way.

In his three final postseason starts, Ryu allowed 11 runs in just 12 innings of work. Opponents hit .352, and had a slugging percentage of .537. He took the loss in game six of the NLCS, as well as game two of the World Series.

2018 particulars

Age: 31

Stats: 7-3, 1.97 ERA, 89 strikeouts, 82.1 innings

Game of the year

Mentioned earlier, Ryu was absolutely dominant in his game one start against the Braves in the NLCS. After some controversy with him getting the nod over Clayton Kershaw, Ryu silenced the doubters, throwing one of the best games of his big-league career.

Ryu threw seven innings of shutout ball, allowing only four hits. He struck out eight, a postseason career-high, and walked zero. Not only that, he contributed at the plate by getting his first career postseason hit.

Roster status

Ryu signed a $17.9 million qualifying offer with the Dodgers last month.