Still this good after 10 years away in MLB? The story behind Hyun-jin Ryu’s historic KBO record

Hyun-jin Ryu, the veteran left-handed ace of the Hanwha Eagles, has set a new milestone in KBO League history. He became just the seventh pitcher ever to reach 1,500 career strikeouts, while also setting rare records as both the oldest player and the one with the fewest games needed to achieve the feat.
Ryu started an away game against the SSG Landers in the 2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season at Incheon SSG Landers Field on April 7 and completed the historic achievement. He had a slightly shaky start, issuing a leadoff walk on four straight balls to Park Seong-han in the bottom of the first inning, but quickly showed his veteran poise in the next matchup against Guillermo Heredia.
Ryu opened the at-bat with a 142 km/h fastball for a called strike, then induced a foul with a high fastball on the second pitch to get ahead in the count. On the third pitch, he unleashed his trademark 129 km/h sharp changeup, getting Heredia to swing and miss for strike three. With that single strikeout, Hyun-jin Ryu reached the milestone of 1,500 career strikeouts, becoming the seventh pitcher in KBO League history to do so.

The record is especially meaningful as it came at age 39 years and 13 days, in just his 246th KBO game. He easily surpassed the previous oldest-to-1,500 strikeouts mark held by Song Jin-woo at 36 years, 5 months and 26 days, and shattered the fewest-games record of 301 set by former manager Sun Dong-yol by a margin of 55 games. It is a dominant accomplishment, achieved despite a 10-season stint in Major League Baseball that left a long gap in his KBO career. If you add the 934 strikeouts he recorded in the big leagues, Ryu now has 2,434 strikeouts combined in Korea and the United States.
Ryu’s march toward even greater records is still ongoing. Since his KBO League debut in 2006, he has recorded nine consecutive 100-strikeout seasons through last year, the fourth-longest such streak in league history. This season, he is aiming to extend that to a 10th straight 100-strikeout campaign, building yet another major milestone. Such a feat would have been impossible without his rigorous self-discipline and savvy game management on the mound.
As of April 6, Yang Hyeon-jong of the Kia Tigers firmly holds first place on the KBO League’s all-time strikeout list with 2,189. He is followed by Song Jin-woo with 2,048, Kwang-hyun Kim of the SSG Landers with 2,020, KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul with 1,751, Sun Dong-yol with 1,698, and Jung Min-cheul with 1,661.
jsi@fnnews.com Jeon Sang-il Reporter