2022 Stats
W-L
6-7
ERA
5.19
WHIP
1.50
K
124
SV
1
2023 Projections
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Kikuchi is at a career crossroads as his non COVID-shortened seasons look terrible by most measures. His ERA and ERA estimators have been messy in each of those seasons, and then he further compounded problems in 2022 with a noticeable spike in his walk rate with a healthy dose of homers. Just six pitchers have ever thrown at least 100 innings with walk rates of at least 12% while allowing 2 homers per nine innings as Kikuchi did and those names include Oliver Perez, Andy Benes, and Derek Holland and each of their ERAs were over a full run higher than what Kikuchi somehow pulled off last season at 5.19. The strikeout rate was am impressive as he ran away from his cutter and threw more fastballs, but only his changeup was tough to hit for the league. It is perplexing to see someone with such poor overall numbers to have four pitches with Whiff rates above 25%, but that is what Kikuchi pulled off last season. Perhaps there is a brighter future for him in relief where he can pump up the velocity in shorter stints because he has had issues sustaining that over the course of a season. Funny data point: did you know Kikuchi's four-seam fastball generated more swings and misses in 2022 than four-seamers thrown by Justin Verlander and Alek Manoah? Now you do. Read Past Outlooks
Not guaranteed to start
Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said Thursday the team wants to "learn more and see more" before locking Kikuchi into the rotation for 2023, Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun reports.
ANALYSIS
Kikuchi joined Toronto on a three-year, $36 million deal in March and endured a rough first season with the team, as he finished with a 5.19 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and 124:58 K:BB across 100.2 innings. He started in 20 of 32 appearances but also struggled in his 12 relief outings. The Blue Jays may need to add a couple starters in free agency for Kikuchi to comfortably be kept out of the rotation in 2023 since Hyun Jin Ryu (elbow) won't be available until the second half of the season, at least.
Kikuchi joined Toronto on a three-year, $36 million deal in March and endured a rough first season with the team, as he finished with a 5.19 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and 124:58 K:BB across 100.2 innings. He started in 20 of 32 appearances but also struggled in his 12 relief outings. The Blue Jays may need to add a couple starters in free agency for Kikuchi to comfortably be kept out of the rotation in 2023 since Hyun Jin Ryu (elbow) won't be available until the second half of the season, at least.
Pitching Stats
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2022
2021
2020
2019
2022 MLB Game Log
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Minor League Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
58
Last 10 Games
28
Last 5 Games
26
How many pitches does Yusei Kikuchi generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Yusei Kikuchi generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2020
-29%
BAA vs LHP
2022
-23%
BAA vs LHP
| BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2020vs Left | .185 | 76 | 24 | 49 | 7 | |||
| Since 2020vs Right | .260 | 257 | 114 | 229 | 46 | |||
| 2022vs Left | .198 | 25 | 9 | 17 | 2 | |||
| 2022vs Right | .256 | 99 | 49 | 76 | 21 | |||
| 2021vs Left | .147 | 40 | 10 | 20 | 5 | |||
| 2021vs Right | .271 | 123 | 52 | 125 | 22 | |||
| 2020vs Left | .279 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 0 | |||
| 2020vs Right | .228 | 35 | 13 | 28 | 3 | |||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | |||||||
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2020
-12%
ERA at Home
2022
-23%
ERA at Home
| ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2020Home | 4.49 | 1.19 | 158.1 | 10.3 | 3.5 | ||||
| Since 2020Away | 5.10 | 1.57 | 146.1 | 9.3 | 4.8 | ||||
| 2022Home | 4.58 | 1.16 | 55.0 | 11.8 | 3.8 | ||||
| 2022Away | 5.91 | 1.91 | 45.2 | 10.2 | 6.9 | ||||
| 2021Home | 4.21 | 1.22 | 77.0 | 9.7 | 3.2 | ||||
| 2021Away | 4.61 | 1.41 | 80.0 | 9.0 | 3.9 | ||||
| 2020Home | 5.13 | 1.18 | 26.1 | 9.2 | 4.1 | ||||
| 2020Away | 5.23 | 1.45 | 20.2 | 8.7 | 3.5 | ||||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | ||||||||
Stat Review
How does Yusei Kikuchi compare to other starting pitchers?
This section compares his stats with all starting pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 120 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
2.14K/9
11.1BB/9
5.2HR/9
2.1Fastball
95.0 mphERA
5.19WHIP
1.50BABIP
.305GB/FB
1.51Left On Base
70.7%Exit Velocity
83.1 mphBarrels/BBE
6.9%Spin Rate
2215 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
27.3%Swinging Strike
13.8%Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2021
2020
2019
2016
Kikuchi appeared set to deliver the breakout campaign that many projected prior to the 2021 season, maintaining a 3.46 ERA with an 81:26 K:BB across his first 80.2 innings and 13 starts. However, he crumbled from there, posting a 5.42 ERA across his last 16 outings. Perhaps coincidentally, his problems began with the crackdown on the use of foreign substances. When viewing Kikuchi's profile as a whole, home runs remain a significant problem (1.6 HR/9) and his walk rate also remains higher than would be desirable (9.3 BB%). However, by far the biggest problem for Kikuchi is the amount of hard contact he surrenders, highlighted by an 11% barrel rate, 47% hard hit rate, and 91.9 mph average exit velocity. Kikuchi agreed to a three-year, $36 million deal with the Blue Jays and will be pitching in the AL East for the foreseeable future.
More Fantasy News
Could start Wednesday
Kikuchi is the leading candidate to start Wednesday in Baltimore, Mitch Bannon of SI.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Dropped from rotation
Interim manager John Schneider said Wednesday that Kikuchi will transition to a relief role, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.
ANALYSIS
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Early exit Monday
Kikuchi (4-7) took the loss Monday as the Blue Jays were downed 7-3 by the Orioles, coughing up six runs (three earned) on four hits and three walks over 3.1 innings. He struck out three.
ANALYSIS
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Hit hard in loss
Kikuchi (4-6) took the loss Monday as the Blue Jays fell 7-4 to the Orioles, coughing up five runs on six hits -- including three home runs -- and three walks over five innings. He struck out four.
ANALYSIS
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Fans five in no-decision
Kikuchi didn't factor into the decision in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the Rays, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out five.
ANALYSIS
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