Former Toronto catcher Reese Maguire (28-Boston) expressed his excitement for the return of Ryu Hyun-jin (36-Toronto).
“I got the news that Ryu Hyun-jin, who has been out of the lineup due to injury, will be back soon,” Maguire told Star News at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., on Sept. 29 (KST). “It’s going to be an interesting and challenging matchup to see him at the plate as a teammate in the past and now as an opposing batter. But I will do my best to hit Ryu’s ball well.”
MLB.com and other local media in the U.S. recently reported that “Ryu’s return from nearly a year of rehabilitation after undergoing Tommy John surgery (elbow ligament reconstruction) last June is imminent,” and that “by mid-July, we should see him on the mound and facing batters. If he returns as expected, Ryu and McGwire could be matched up for a two-hitter when Toronto and Boston meet on Aug. 5-7 and Sept. 16-18.
McGwire faced Ryu once before, on June 2, 2022, when he was a member of the Chicago White Sox, and retired him on a grounder to first base. It was Ryu’s last appearance before his injury.
A native of Seattle, Washington, Maguire was drafted by Pittsburgh in the first round (14th overall) of the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He moved to Toronto via trade in 2016 and made his major league debut two years later in 2018.
Maguire spent two years with the Jays starting in 2020 when Hyun-jin Ryu joined Toronto. He then moved to the White Sox in April of last year before donning a Boston uniform in August.
“He was one of the best pitchers in the league,” recalls Maguire, who shared a battery with Ryu and often received his pitches, “especially the sharpness of his delivery to poke and utilize all corners of home plate, but also the guts to throw his pitches regardless of the reputation of the opposing batter, which often surprised even me as a catcher. I was happy to receive his pitches.”
Despite being a first-round draft pick, Maguire underperformed until last year. He hadn’t played a full season since his major league debut. This year, he’s been better, batting .282 (22-for-78) with nine RBIs in 30 games so far. Not bad for a catcher with a heavy defensive load.
“Now that I’m in the majors,메이저놀이터 I realize what I need to do in the offseason,” Maguire said, “and I think the things that I did wrong during the season, whether it was technical or fitness, I took note of and tried to analyze and correct them in the offseason, and I think that’s what helped me to do well this season.”
Maguire represented Team USA at the 2012 World Junior Baseball Classic in South Korea as a 17-year-old, winning gold in the final over Canada. “Korea was the first foreign country I had ever been to, so everything was new and unfamiliar at first,” he told StarNews. However, the Koreans I met at the tournament and at the hotel were very friendly and nice,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t have a chance to experience Korea properly because I was focusing on my game, but I would like to go to Korea again if I have the chance in the future.”
When asked if the plan is still in place, Maguire said, “Absolutely,” adding, “Now that the pandemic is better, you can travel internationally as freely as you could in the past, so you can go whenever you want. I would definitely go back.”