Ryu continued to slowly work his way back from 2015 shoulder surgery last Friday, going three innings and giving up three runs for the Quakes vs the San Jose Giants.  He sat around 84-to-87 mph with the fastball and mixed in his slider, curveball and changeup.  Nothing looked overly sharp, and it was fairly obvious that he was working at about the 75% effort level that is expected in these rehab outings.  He did not look at all concerned out there, and while he wasn’t popping the mitt, his arm looked free and easy and he gave the impression of a guy just getting his work in.  He gave up two bombs to Chris Shaw (see below for more on him) and Ronny Jebavy – two of the better hitters on the San Jose roster- on balls out over the plate, but other than that seemed to locate the fastball and showed feel for the secondaries.

I’ve been watching Ryu since he burst onto the international stage (at the 2009 WBC, pitching for Korea vs. Japan in the Tokyo Dome), and there has been some of the inevitable decline in the power of his stuff even before this injury, so how his shoulder will respond very much remains to be seen.  That said, the body looked as good as I’ve seen it in recent years, and he may have lost a few pounds.  So while Dodger fans are probably not expecting a whole lot from this guy at the moment, there were some encouraging signs here that suggest he is indeed on track to help the big club later this summer. -Dave DeFreitas