Los Angeles Dodgers starter, Hyun-Jin Ryu is having the best season of his young career after throwing 7 shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds.
Hyun-Jin Ryu has been the model of consistency over his six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers going 46-29 with a 3.03 ERA. As good as those numbers are, he is having his best season yet in 2019.
He is 6-1 in nine starts with a major-league leading 1.52 ERA and a leading .742 WHIP. He’s also leading the majors in walks per 9 innings with .6 and is allowing a .190 opposing batting average.
These stats are all very impressive, but the most impressive stat is his scoreless innings streak. He has twirled 31 straight innings without giving up a run. He hasn’t allowed a run since the first inning against the San Francisco Giants on May 1st.
With a couple more starts of this caliber, he will be knocking on the door of some of the longest scoreless inning streaks in history and has joined some Dodger royalty.
Pitchers to have three outings in a row of 8+ IP, no more than 1 run and 4 baserunners allowed, since the dead ball era:
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) May 12, 2019
- Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD), 2019
- Clayton Kershaw (LAD), 2016
- Clayton Kershaw (LAD), 2015
- Cliff Lee (CLE), 2008
- Sandy Koufax (LAD), 1963
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With all of his success these last few games, talk has begun if Ryu is the best pitcher in the National League this year. Let’s take a look at a few of the other pitchers in contention this year.
The closest in the ERA battle is Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Zach Davies, who is 5-0 with a 1.54 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Other than wins and ERA, this race isn’t even close. Ryu has walked 4 batters all season.
Four batters all season in 59 innings pitched. The next closest to him is Arizona Diamondbacks‘ Zack Greinke, with 8 walks.
None of the other pitchers in the NL have been even close to as dominant as Ryu has been and we’ll have to see how long he can run this scoreless innings streak.
Without question Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu is the best pitcher in the National League so far this year, outdueling several other pitchers and making a case to be the Los Angeles Dodger’s ace even with a healthy Clayton Kershaw on the roster.