Blue Jays: Looming roster decisions when Hyun Jin Ryu returns

The Toronto Blue Jays currently have a few players on the injured list who will potentially be ready to go in the next few weeks like Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio, as both players are down in Buffalo working back to getting into game shape. Another name in the mix who made a rehab start just a couple of days ago is southpaw Hyun Jin Ryu, who looks to be the first player of this group ready to return to the big leagues since being added to the IL with arm inflammation back on April 17th.

The 2022 season has been rough for Ryu, as the left-hander has only appeared in two games and they haven’t been his best outings. He currently has just 7.1 innings on the season while allowing 11 earned runs off 11 hits compared to five strikeouts. Opponents are seeing the ball well off Ryu, especially his fastball, where opposing batters own a xBA of .392 and xwOBA of .731 off that particular pitch, and overall he is just getting hit hard (42.9 Hard-Hitting percentage and a 91.7% average exit velocity).

That being said, Ryu made his rehab start in Buffalo on Saturday against the Durham Bulls and went four innings while allowing five hits, five runs (only two earned), one home run, and six strikeouts with zero walks. Now that he has a rehab start under his belt and given the Blue Jays’ current schedule, it wouldn’t be surprising if the club is ready to activate him from the roster come the weekend series in Tampa Bay.

Once he is ready to go, the Blue Jays are going to have some roster decisions when it comes to whose spot on the roster Ryu will be taking. The club is allowed to switch him out for a position player to bring the pitcher total to 14 but can only have that many hurlers until the end of May when it drops back down to 13. It seems unlikely that the Jays would drop someone like Vinny Capra or Tyler Heineman when Jansen and Biggio will be needing roster spots in the near future as well but stranger things have happened.