The major leagues are now the era of fastball.
Training methods to make pitchers' balls faster are discovered and evolved, getting faster year after year.
In 2002, major league pitchers had a fastball average of 143.2 km/h, but it got faster and exceeded 150 km this year for the first time ever.
This is a pitcher named Jake DeGrom of the New York Mets. He is the best pitcher on the job.
I'm 33 years old this year, and the ball is getting faster and faster every year.
So this year, it is recording a record high of 159.2 km/h, which humanity has never heard of.
In this era, Hyunjin Ryu is a'distinct species among different species'.
The average fastball speed is only about 145 km/h.
It's slower than DiGrom's changing sphere.
There are only about 6 pitchers who are slower than Ryu Hyun-jin in all major leagues.
Of all the pitches in the Major League, fastballs take up half and change balls take up half.
However, Ryu Hyun-jin is far from such a half-and-half formula.
The fastball is only 25%, so it's only a quarter, and the remaining three pitches, the change-up and the cutter, and the curve fill the remaining three-quarters.
Originally, in the early days of advancing into the United States, Ryu Hyun-jin also followed the common sense of ``half fastball, half changeable ball,'' but in recent years, the number of fastballs continued to decrease, and this year, he became one of the pitchers who did not throw fastballs in the league this year.
So Hyunjin Ryu is an endangered species in the major leagues with speed and ball combinations.
However, the power is at the top of the world.
In the three years since 2019, the only pitcher we introduced earlier is DiGrom with an average ERA lower than Ryu Hyun-jin.
So Hyun-jin Ryu is currently the second best starting pitcher in the world and is the best among left-handed pitchers.
How did Hyunjin Ryu, a non-mainstream, survive?
Let's think about this from the perspective of the other.
The time the ball leaves the pitcher's hand and arrives in front of the batter is about 0.4 seconds, but considering the actual time it takes to swing, the batter sees the ball that has only reached a quarter in 0.1 seconds and guesses when and where it will come. You need to swing.
When you meet a fastball pitcher, your options are simple.
It is a rule of thumb to swing in preparation for a fast ball and to leave the changing ball on the fly.
If you compare it to the test, you just need to think of Lee Ji-seon.
But when I meet Hyunjin Ryu, my mind gets complicated.
The fastball is only a quarter, and three types of changing balls with different speeds fly in a similar composition.
This alone makes it possible to choose between people.
By the way, Hyunjin Ryu can throw all these pitches downward or upwards at will, and he can aim and throw precisely whether it is left or right.
However, there is not enough time to solve this problem.
What time is 0.1 seconds? You have to choose one of the 16 within this time.
If you don't make a decision, the ball will pass.
Slower pitchers like Hyunjin Ryu also have advantages.
Pitchers who throw incredibly fast balls also have a high risk of shoulder and elbow injuries.
So, when looking at baseball history, there are many cases of skillful pitchers who don't speed up because they are unreasonable like Ryu Hyun-jin.
Song Jin-woo, the most victorious pitcher in Korean baseball, and Jamie Moyer, the oldest winner in the major leagues, are representative.
In an era where everyone is pursuing strength and speed, Ryu Hyun-jin climbed to the top in the opposite way.
And, perhaps, for quite some time, this delightful revolt will continue.
(Video coverage: Lee Chun-su·Yang Hyeon-cheol, video editing: Kim Byeong-jik, CG: Jung Hyun-jung)