Blue Jays’ Ryu Hyun-jin to stay in Florida for training

 The Toronto Blue Jays’ Ryu Hyun-jin has decided to stay in Florida until the Major League Baseball season gets started.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 baseball season has been on hold indefinitely, and many players have been going back to their homes.

But expanded travel bans across the world have given limited options to foreign players in the United States.

Ryu, who is at the Jays’ spring training home in Dunedin, Florida, is unable to fly north to Toronto after Canada closed its borders to foreigners earlier this week.

Returning to his native South Korea is not an alternative for the south paw, as U.S. travel restrictions could affect him ahead of the start of the season.

“Korean pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Toronto Blue Jays is among those international players, and he is reportedly opting to stick around the team’s spring training facility even as the timeline for games remains a great unknown,” Yahoo Canada reported Thursday (local time).

It said Ryu is working out daily at the training center as the club has opened the facility and allowed its players to exercise individually.

Ryu signed a four-year US$80 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays in December last year, becoming the highest-paid pitcher in team history.

Meanwhile, Choi Ji-man of the Tampa Bay Rays has decided to come back to South Korea and will prepare for the new season at home.

He is the first South Korean big leaguer to leave the U.S. Three others, including Choo Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers and Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals, are staying in the U.S.