Yusei Kikuchi Carves Phillies, Continuing Impressive Rebound Season
Yusei Kikuchi bent down to re-tie his shoe in the fourth inning after striking out Bryce Harper on a slippery slider.
The Blue Jays starter polished off his laces, patted the rosin bag, and then retook his place on the rubber. A few pitches later, he had Nick Castellanos swinging through a similarly un-hittable curve.
The punch-out was one of Kikuchi's seven in a 2-1 win over the Phillies. Against a Philadelphia lineup that averages 4.62 runs per game and went to the World Series last year, Toronto's lefty was in complete control. But that's nothing new. Just a year after he was one of the worst pitchers in baseball, Kikuchi has become one of the Blue Jays' best.
"You look at 365 days ago, kind of where he was, and where he is now," manager John Schneider said. "It's just awesome to see a player put in the work and see the results."
Since the 2023 All-Star Break, Kikuchi has been the best starting pitcher in baseball. He entered Tuesday's outing with a 1.24 ERA since the break and hurled another six innings of one-run ball against the Phils. He brought his ERA down to 3.44 on the season, nearly two full points below his 2022 mark of 5.19.
Kikuchi's southpaw stuff has never been deniable. He throws the sixth-hardest fastball by a lefty in the entire league. But it was the walks, homers, and inconsistency that dogged him in 2022 — and at times throughout his other three seasons in MLB.
His 2023 turnaround has come in every aspect. He's dropped his walk rate from 12.8% to 6.9%, pushed the homer rate down over 20%, and already tripled his quality starts from last season.
"I always thought add the stuff to succeed in major leagues," Kikuchi said through a team interpreter. "But in the past I had a bit of control issues. Right now I've been able to attack the zone and get hitters out that way this year, so it's really helping."
After Bryson Stott looped a single into the outfield for Philadelphia's second hit of the night on Tuesday, Kikuchi dropped a changeup on the outside corner to Trea Turner, drawing a soft grounder to third. Only problem, it was too soft, as Trea Turner's speedy legs beat out the relatively routine double play. So, Kikuchi came at J.T. Realmuto with a mix of four-seamers and sliders, eventually drawing another weak hack to third and a completed DP to end the inning.
As the ball hit Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s glove to end the frame, Kikuchi bounced off the mound and back to the dugout. While the strikeouts and crafty curveballs have been there for Kikuchi this season, so has the bounce in his step.
After strikeouts, he'll do his best Nastia Liukin impression, high-kicking and twisting his body as opposing batters sulk back to the dugout. It's the celebratory gymnastics that's been Schneider's favorite part of watching the transformed Kikuchi this year — seeing the "joy" back in the southpaw. It's easy to be happy when you're carving up opposing batters.
"To watch him compete every time out there," Schneider said. "You feel really good with him on the mound."
Mitch Bannon is a baseball reporter for Sports Illustrated covering the Toronto Blue Jays and their minor league affiliates.Twitter: @MitchBannon