![Ryu Hyun-jin of the Hanwha Eagles receives a bouquet from manager Kim Kyung-moon in front of the dugout after the second inning to mark his 2,500th combined Korea-US career strikeout, during a 2026 KBO League game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Hanwha Life Insurance Ballpark in Daejeon on Sunday. [Hanwha Eagles, Newsis]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/19/news-p.v1.20260719.be99e14419ab4c279388b4998cebba2d_P1.jpg)
Ryu Hyun-jin (39, Hanwha Eagles) has become the first Korean pitcher to reach the 2,500-strikeout milestone.
Ryu struck out Kwon Hyeok-bin on a swinging third strike in the top of the second inning Sunday against the Kiwoom Heroes at Hanwha Life Insurance Ballpark in Daejeon, in a 2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League game.
Ryu had fallen behind 0-1 after giving up three consecutive hits to open the second inning. With runners on first and third and nobody out, he ran the count to 0-2 on Kiwoom's No. 8 hitter Kwon before finishing him off with a 145 km/h fastball inside on the third pitch for a three-pitch strikeout.
The out gave Ryu 2,500 career strikeouts combined across the KBO League and Major League Baseball.
Only four Korean pitchers, including Ryu, have surpassed 2,000 career strikeouts across all leagues.
The others are Yang Hyeon-jong of the KIA Tigers, who leads the all-time KBO strikeout list with 2,234 through Saturday; retired pitcher Song Jin-woo (2,048); and Kim Gwang-hyeon of the SSG Landers (2,020).
Ryu made his debut with Hanwha in 2006, moved to MLB in 2013 and returned to the KBO League in 2024.
He recorded 934 strikeouts over 11 MLB seasons and had 1,565 KBO strikeouts through Saturday.
mss@heraldcorp.com
