TORONTO -- If the Blue Jays plan on going anywhere in 2020, Hyun-Jin Ryu needs to be the ace they signed him to be.

That front-line talent can steal a few games over the course of 60, which might be the difference in the American League East or a Wild Card race. Ryu came into Summer Camp built up well, and the lefty has himself in a position to be at 100 percent by the time July 24 rolls around, when he’ll surely be the Blue Jays’ Opening Day starter in St. Petersburg.

In Monday’s intrasquad game, Ryu threw five innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and striking out four. Ryu started shaky in the first inning, but he quickly found his groove, throwing 59 pitches, 40 for strikes. He then threw approximately 10 more pitches in the bullpen, getting him to his planned count of 70.

“I felt good on the mound,” Ryu said. “I was able to raise my pitch count and my innings as I anticipated, so the progress has been fine, and I think I’ll be ready for Opening Day.”

Ryu was able to use all of his pitches, which have caught the eye of his fellow starters. Many of the Blue Jays' young arms have been going to the veteran for advice, which pitching coach Pete Walker is thrilled to see.

“The guys love him,” Walker said. “He's very social. He has used his experience and helped some of the younger guys, I've heard him in some conversations with them. So they're not afraid to pick his brain, even with the language barrier, which is awesome.”

These next steps for Ryu will mirror what you’d typically see in the final days of Spring Training, as he irons out a few kinks with specific pitches and pushes his pitch count up closer to that magic number of 100.

“I know the cutter is something he's trying to fine-tune right now,” Walker said. “I think his changeup has been very good. His curveball has been really good. Fastball command and probably his cutter are the two pitches he might be focusing on today. But in his work, his previous work, he has been sharp.”

Ryu is no stranger to hot starts, either. He didn’t allow more than two earned runs until his 16th start of the season in 2019, carrying an incredible 1.27 ERA up to that point.

Austin’s grand arrival
Austin Martin, the club’s No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, stepped onto the field wearing No. 70 on Monday. After the intrasquad game, Martin took ground balls at third base with infield coach Luis Rivera and manager Charlie Montoyo. The 21-year-old then took some rounds of batting practice, launching his first few (unofficial) home runs with the Blue Jays.

• Getting to know Blue Jays No. 1 pick Martin

Yamaguchi still a bullpen variable
The Blue Jays plan to stretch out Shun Yamaguchi a bit after throwing 30-35 pitches on Sunday, but it’s not clear whether he’ll be part of the competition for the fifth-starter’s job or a multi-inning bullpen piece.

“Same as March, I still haven’t gotten a formal notice on what type of role I will be playing in," Yamaguchi said. "For me, I personally do want to be in the starting role, so I’m trying my best to get the fifth spot.”

Yamaguchi struggled in Spring Training and noted some difficulties adapting to the movement of the MLB ball, but the right-hander feels he’s adapting better now. Yamaguchi was particularly happy with his high fastball, which sat around 90 mph but appeared to sneak up on some hitters.

Intrasquad notes
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr., outfielder Jonathan Davis, outfielder Forrest Wall, right-hander Hector Perez and outfielder Joshua Palacios remain in Dunedin, Fla., though individual reasons have not been given by the club.

• It was Team Bo vs. Team Grich on Monday, with teams wearing different colored uniforms for the first time and the introduction of more stadium elements, like batter announcements, use of the scoreboard and pumped-in crowd noise.

• Santiago Espinal wasted no time, opening the game with a hard-hit double to left field off Ryu. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove him home soon after by punching a single up the middle.

• Bo Bichette took Tanner Roark deep to the opposite field in his first at-bat of the game.

• Alejandro Kirk, who’s fast on his way to becoming a Blue Jays fan favorite, launched a home run off Roark later in the inning to left-center.

• Teoscar Hernández joined the homer parade off Roark with an opposite-field shot of his own to end the third inning.