When right-handed pitcher Ryu Jae-kuk signed with the Chicago Cubs out of a Seoul high school in 2001 and received $1.6 million in signing bonus, it seemed like the hard-throwing teenager was headed for a successful career in Major League Baseball.

It didn’t quite pan out that way, though. Ryu spent five years in the Cubs’ minor league system before making his big league debut in 2006, but made only 10 appearances there.

He was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007, but slowed by elbow problems, he would only pitch in 18 more MLB games over the next two seasons.

After completing his military service here, Ryu finally returned to baseball in 2013, joining the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization. And at age 30, he enjoyed a career renaissance after years in baseball abyss, going 12-2 with a 3.87 ERA in 111 2/3 innings. Among qualified pitchers, Ryu had the highest winning percentage, as the Twins advanced to their first postseason since 2002.

Looking back on his up-and-down U.S. career, Ryu said not everything was lost.

“In the minors, I learned how not to show my emotions on the mound whatever the situation was, and I think it helped me a lot last season,” Ryu said in an interview. “When I am too expressive out there, then I can get caught up in my own emotions and can’t throw the way I want. I learned to forget things quickly and used that to my advantage last year.”

Ryu ended his minor league career with a 42-34 record in eight seasons, with a 3.52 ERA in 137 appearances. In the big leagues, he was just 1-3 with a 7.49 ERA in 28 appearances, while making only one start.

His days in the U.S. might not have been memorable, but he does have one dubious claim to fame. Before a minor league game in 2003, Ryu knocked out an osprey from its perch with a baseball, and the bird died six days later. The incident caused a public outrage, and Ryu was ordered to perform community service.

Ryu is trying to aim his pitches only at the catcher’s mitt.

Though he had good peripheral numbers in 2013, Ryu said he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his season and that he hopes to find the strike zone with more consistency this year.

“Last year, I wanted to pound the zone but felt like I was getting away from hitters instead,” Ryu said. “So I ended up issuing a lot of walks (50 in 111 2/3 innings) and couldn’t pitch as many innings as I wanted to.”

Ryu said he still hasn’t decided whether he should alter his pitching patterns this year. Ryu estimated that he threw a fastball for his first pitch “about 90 percent of the time” in 2013. Then during the preseason this year, Ryu said many hitters were sitting on his fastball, fully anticipating what the pitcher would throw for his first pitch.

Ryu said he has trouble deciding whether he should change his approach this year.

“I would still like to get the first pitch strike,” he said.

“It makes it easy for pitchers to stay ahead in the count. I find it difficult to start throwing my fastball less often than before.”

Ryu said he has been getting useful advice from another former MLB pitcher, right-hander Kim Sun-woo, who joined the Twins last December after six seasons with LG’s Seoul rivals, the Doosan Bears.

Kim, 36, has 118 big league games under his belt, and Ryu said Kim has been trying to get him to believe in his pitches more and to stop trying to strike out every hitter.

“Sun-woo told me I should trust my two-seam fastball because it has a natural tailing action (against the right-handed batters) and that I should just aim it at the lower part of the strike zone,” Ryu said.

“And he said he’s able to keep his pitch counts low because he doesn’t try to fan everyone. He may get knocked around, but he can stay in games longer because he doesn’t throw too many pitches.”

Ryu said he wants to take a page out of Kim’s book and be more efficient this year.

“I want to get ahead in the count and put hitters at a disadvantage early,” he said. “I might struggle with the command of my fastball, but I think I can throw a changeup for strike at any given at-bat. My goal is to work off an inning with around 10 to 12 pitches. That would be ideal.” (Yonhap)