Ryu Hyun-jin, Choo Shin-soo highly likely to face off on Tuesday

Ryu Hyun-jin, Choo Shin-soo highly likely to face off on Tuesday. March. 17, 2015 07:19. moonsy1028@donga.com.

A showdown between Ryu Hyun-jin and Choo Shin-soo is expected to take place on Tuesday. LA Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin is set to take the mound for a second time at an exhibition game for this season. Ryu will likely play in an away game against the Texas Rangers to be held in Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona.

Chances are high that Texas Rangers outfielder Choo Shin-soo will also play in the game. Choo served as the third hitter and right fielder at the game against Milwaukee on Monday. Choo, who had skipped games for two consecutive days, had one run and no hit in two times at bat, including a walk, at the game against Milwaukee that his team won 12-5. He had a batting average of 0.222 through Sunday.

In reality, a showdown at an exhibition game between Ryu and Choo holds little significance. It would only draw some attention from fans in Korea. As both players are playing to adjust conditions and pace in preparation for the upcoming regular season, fans cannot afford to give significant meaning to the result of their duel.

The first and last time that the two baseball players from Korea had confronted each other during a regular season was a game held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on July 28, 2013. Choo, a slugger and cleanup hitter at Cincinnati at the time, had a walk in the first inning, a grounder to the first base in the third inning, and strikeout in the sixth inning. He thus had no hit in two times at bat. Then Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker tried to give Choo, who was in poor physical condition, a chance to take rest.

Chances are high that the two Korean players will face off each other during the regular season this year. Dodgers and Texas are scheduled to hold four consecutive Interleague games, including two home games and two away games each. As they will hold the four games consecutively, if Ryu does not take the mound just prior to an interleague game against Texas, he will start at a game against Texas. Choo, who was the cleanup hitter in 2013, is now the third hitter in his team. Texas manager Jeff Banister officially announced Leonys Martin as the team’s cleanup hitter.

Ryu had perfect pitching in two innings at the exhibition game on Thursday, when he debuted for the new season. He is expected to pitch in three innings, or up to four innings in case he throws fewer pitches in the game against Texas. Texas starter is Yovani Gallardo, 28, who served as the ace pitcher of Milwaukee for eight years. Texas, with a poor pitcher lineup, traded in Gallardo who was supposed to be a free agent after the end of this season, by releasing a promising young player in January this year.