Former Cy Young finalist to begin rehab assignment for Blue Jays

Blue Jays left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu will begin a rehab assignment on July 4, reports Scott Mitchell of TSN. Mitchell adds that Ryu is apparently in great shape, having lost about 30 pounds.

The lefty underwent Tommy John surgery in June of last year and has long maintained he’s targeting a return in July of this year. He’ll likely need a few weeks of rehab to build back up to a starter’s workload but the July target still seems within reach. Rehab assignments for pitchers come with a 30-day maximum length.

The return of Ryu figures to be a key storyline for the Jays in the coming weeks. General manager Ross Atkins spoke this week about how the rotation was an “obvious area” for the club to address at the upcoming deadline but that the club would “balance” that against the status of Ryu and Alek Manoah.

Manoah is in a very different situation to Ryu, as he doesn’t have an injury but merely suffered immense struggles to start the season. After posting a 2.24 ERA last year and finishing third in Cy Young voting, he was shelled for a disastrous 6.36 ERA through 13 starts this year and optioned down to the lower levels of the Jays’ system. He was recently tagged for 11 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings in a Complex League start.

With Manoah getting bumped from the rotation, the Jays are down to four regular starters in Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi. Thankfully, all four of those hurlers have been pitching well to varying degrees, with Bassitt’s 4.06 ERA the highest of the bunch, and the club has been able to buttress that group with the occasional bullpen game featuring Bowden Francis and Trevor Richards in bulk roles.

That group has helped the club stay afloat in the tight American League race, as their 45-37 record gives them possession of the final Wild Card spot for the moment. However, they are only half a game up on the Astros with the Angels and other clubs not too far behind. Going into the postseason run with a shorthanded rotation would obviously be less than ideal.

If Ryu can get back into peak form, that would be a tremendous boost for the Jays, but that’s not a guarantee for a 36-year-old coming off a long layoff. He signed a four-year, $80M deal with the Jays after 2019 and was brilliant in the first season. He posted a 2.69 ERA in the shortened 2020 season and finished third in Cy Young voting that year. His ERA climbed to 4.37 the year after but still had strong peripherals and a 4.02 FIP. His ERA climbed even further to 5.67 last year before the surgery, but that was in just seven starts and his diminished velocity suggests the elbow may have already been hampering him.

The trade deadline is on Aug. 1 this year, giving the Jays roughly a month to evaluate their overall rotation picture and decide how aggressively to pursue starting pitching upgrades. That will make the progress of Ryu and Manoah an interesting storyline to watch in the weeks to come. It will also be important for Ryu from a personal perspective, as he’s now in the final season of his contract and slated to return to the open market in a few months.