Tommy Lasorda Welcomes Hyun-jin Ryu To The Dodgers

The Hyun-jin Ryu presser was held today at Dodger Stadium at 2pm in the Stadium club. The whole thing went off without a hitch. I was unable to attend unfortunately, but usually these pressers are pretty quick. To be honest with you, they’re kind of boring too. This one was interesting though. Ryu was fitted and put on his new Dodger uniform. The guy is big. Ryu will wear number 99, which of course everyone knows as Manny Ramirez’s old number. Ryu had to have an interpreter during the presser.

Tommy Lasorda Welcomes Hyun-jin Ryu to the Dodgers.

Ryu fielded questions from the media. There were hordes of Korean media present at the event. As you can see Tommy Lasorda welcomed Ryu to the Dodgers personally. What better way to be welcomed to the Dodgers? The presser was televised on Prime Ticket, and at the end, Magic Johnson was interviewed and was beaming about the Dodger’s new acquisition.

Magic isn’t worried about Ryu making the acclimation from the Korean leagues to the Majors. Neither is VP of international scouting Bob Engel, who was impressed with Ryu’s composure and command on the mound. Engel compared his physical build to David Wells. The 25 year old left hander will go down to the Glendale complex in late January for early spring training. This should help him get additional time to get acclimated to his new surroundings. On a funny note Gm Ned Colletti fell off the stage while walking to his seat before the presser began. (Colletti was not injured)

Tomorrow the Dodgers are having another press conference, this one to introduce Birdman Zack Greinke. Apparently Greinke will wear number 21. The conference will be at 1:30Pm tomorrow at the Stadium Club.