Los Angeles Dodgers midseason awards: Most surprising pitcher

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in their last day of the All-Star Break and as a result, we give out our final midseason award for the team.

The All-Star Break is a necessary break for all MLB players, who commit their entire lives to baseball nearly every day for three-fourths of the year. Today is the final day of the break, which means tomorrow we will see the Los Angeles Dodgers back in action.

The Los Angeles Dodgers stumbled into the All-Star Break on a three-game losing streak but still entered the Midsummer Classic with the best record in the Major Leagues.

The team will really be tested at the beginning of the second half as the Boys in Blue have a tough road trip to get through. The Dodgers travel to Boston in a World Series rematch against the Red Sox before heading to Philadelphia for a four-game series with the Phillies.

Those are two playoff-caliber teams all the way across the country that also have dedicated fanbases. Those will not be easy wins for the Dodgers.

We still have one more day to enjoy what the team did in the first half before looking towards the second half and the playoffs, which feel like they are right around the corner.

Today is the last day of our Los Angeles Dodgers midseason awards and we give you the most surprising pitcher of the first half, although who it is probably is not all that surprising.

Los Angeles Dodgers most surprising pitcher: Hyun-Jin Ryu

Could it have been anybody else? Hyun-Jin Ryu has not just been great, he has not just been the best pitcher on the Dodgers, he has not just been the best pitcher in the National League but he has been the best pitcher in all of baseball.

Ryu started the All-Star Game for the National League after posting a 10-2 record, 1.73 ERA and 9.9 strikeout to walk ratio. Keep in mind, his ERA is 1.73 despite allowing seven earned runs in four innings in what was a chaotic series at Coors Field.

Outside of that one blemish on his resume, Ryu has a 1.20 ERA. That is how incredible he has been this year.

Some may say that we saw signs of this coming after how good he was a year ago despite missing a significant chunk of the season with an injury. However, nobody really expected Ryu to be this good and if they did, well, they are probably lying.

Ryu has surprised not just Dodger fans but all of baseball and now the first Korean-born pitcher to start an All-Star Game is due for a big payday this winter.

There is still a lot that is going to happen before we get to Ryu’s eventual payday. Until then, Ryu’s focus is making the Dodgers a better team to win the World Series, which right now, he is a massive part of.