Korean MLB leaguer Ryu Hyun-jin, known as the Korean Monster, officially announced his joining the Hanwha Eagles (One of the teams of the Korean Baseball Organization).

On February 22nd, The Hanwha Eagles officially announced that they signed Ryu Hyun-jin for an eight-year contract of up to 17 billion won. This is the biggest contract in KBO history.

The previous largest contract was signed by the catcher Yang Eui-ji (37), who moved from NC to Doosan last season. He earned a total of 15.2 billion won in 6 years.

In 2020, Ryu Hyun-jin signed a four-year, $80 million Free Agent (FA) contract with MLB's Toronto Blue Jays, but his contract expired after the 2023 season and became an FA in MLB.

Ryu had two options: stay in the MLB or return to the KBO. If he decided to return to the KBO, he could only sign a contract with the Hanwha Eagles because of a system called the posting system.

The posting system is a baseball player transfer system that operates between the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and Major League Baseball (MLB).

Ryu Hyun-jin was a member of Hanwha during the 2012 season.

He was able to advance to MLB due to this posting system while he was in Hanwha, so if he returned to the KBO, he had no choice but to sign a contract with Hanwha.

Therefore, Ryu Hyun-jin seemed likely to return to Korea, but his return to Korea appeared to fall through because of the robustness he showed in the last 11 games after his return from an injury in Toronto during the last season (3-3 with a 3.46 ERA in 11 games).

He also expressed intentions to stay in the MLB in several local media interviews.

However, negotiations with other MLB teams were sluggish. He wanted a one or two-year contract worth $10 million and various details.

However, no team met the conditions that Ryu wanted.

Although some teams offered similar conditions, they were not what Ryu Hyun-jin hoped for, considering the environment in which his family would stay in.

When he wasn’t satisfied with contracts from MLB teams, the Hanwha Eagles actively contacted him to ask to return to Korea.

Ryu Hyun-jin also contacted the San Diego Padres, hesitating to return to Korea, but their contract also did not satisfy Ryu .

Meanwhile, Hanwha continued to send love calls to Ryu.

Eventually, Ryu signed a contract with Hanwha, promising the best treatment ever in KBO history.

On February 22nd, at an official KBO press conference on Ryu Hyun-jin's recruitment, Hanwha General Manager Son Hyuk thanked several front members for their collaboration and announced that he had persuaded Ryu to return to Korea through continuous contact since last year.

He additionally mentioned that they decided to switch to a full-fledged negotiation mode and led the negotiations by operating the “Ryu Hyun-jin return project” since mid-January.

In the interview, Ryu Hyun-jin said, "As for the timing of my return to Hanwha, I concluded that it was the right decision to join this team as soon as possible when I finally judged that I am still good enough. I am truly happy and excited to be back now".

Ryu will be spending the last 8 years of his career with his former team after 12 years of absence from the KBO.

Ryu is currently getting ready for several season preparation routines with live pitching to be the starting pitcher for the season opening game against the LG Twins on March 23rd.

Yun Kang

Grade 11

Calvin Manitoba International School