Ryu Hyun-jin returns to Hanwha Eagles on eight-year, 17-billion-won deal

Ryu Hyun-jin [AP/YONHAP]

Ryu Hyun-jin has rejoined the Hanwha Eagles on an eight-year, 17 billion won ($12.8 million) contract, bringing him back to the KBO and on the mound in Hanwha orange until well into his mid-40s.

Eleven seasons after leaving the KBO to become one of the most successful pitchers ever to ply his trade in the big leagues, free agent Ryu, 36, is on his way back to Daejeon.

Hanwha confirmed the move on Thursday morning. Full details of the contract were not disclosed, but it does include an unspecified opt-out clause. The deal immediately makes him the highest-paid player in the KBO.

Ryu left the Eagles through the posting system, so the club still retained rights to him. He will be 37 when the 2024 KBO season starts, potentially putting him on the mound until well after his 44th birthday.

The move back to the KBO was initially expected to be announced on Wednesday, but was delayed a day as details were finalized. Ryu is expected to join the club in spring training this week.

The ultimate KBO ace, Ryu arrived in the league in 2006 to win Rookie of the Year, MVP and All-Star honors and take the Triple Crown.

Ryu went on to make the All-Star team every year for the following six years, topping the KBO strikeout ranking five times, the ERA ranking twice and earning two Golden Glove awards.

Ryu moved to the big leagues in 2013, joining the Los Angeles Dodgers on a six-year, $36-million deal.

He pitched for the California club until 2019, when he was the MLB ERA leader and named to the All-Star squad. He will be the fourth Korean MLB All-Star to return to the KBO, after Park Chan-ho, Kim Byung-hyun and Choo Shin-soo. That year he also finished second in the National League Cy Young Award voting, the closest to the prize a Korean pitcher has ever got.

Ryu joined the Blue Jays in 2020 on a four-year, $80 million contract, but was only able to play two full seasons before undergoing Tommy John surgery in the middle of the 2022 campaign. He returned to the mound at the tail end of the 2023 season.

Ryu made 11 starts in the second half of the 2023 season, going 3-3 with a 3.46 ERA over 52 innings of work. He leaves the MLB with a big league career 3.27 ERA with 78 wins and 48 losses. Back in the KBO, Ryu will pick where he left off with 98 wins and 52 losses for a career 2.80 ERA and 1,238 strikeouts to his name.

A return to the Eagles has always been on the cards, with Ryu repeatedly promising that he would finish his career where it all started — in Daejeon with the Eagles. His No. 99 jersey has remained unused since he left the club at the end of the 2012 season.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]