Safe from competing for a rotation spot this spring, Yusei Kikuchi is focused on sustaining last season’s impressive bounce-back, where he posted career bests across the board, including a 3.86 ERA. Perhaps there’s even another level to reach, one he could unlock by debuting a few new tricks this season to keep the opposition on its toes.
Among those involves a new addition to Kikuchi’s arsenal, as the Toronto Blue Jays hurler has been experimenting with a sweeper this spring, a separate offering to his cutter-slider hybrid. It’s still in the early stages of development, though, so don’t expect to see him using his fifth pitch very often, or at all, during Grapefruit League action.
That offering most likely won’t have an effect on Kikuchi’s 2024 campaign. But one pitch that he hopes can make a difference is his changeup, a weapon that has, historically, shown to be unreliable over time.
When it’s on, the 32-year-old’s off-speed offering can be one of his most lethal swing-and-miss tools, matching nicely with his explosive fastball from the left side. However, since arriving in North America in 2019, it has been inconsistent from season to season.
The left-hander’s shift over his first two seasons with the Blue Jays may be summed up by that pattern. It was, statistically speaking, his most effective weapon in 2022, with the highest run value (four), strikeout percentage (42.9%), and whiff rate (39.5%) of all the weapons in his arsenal. Though he only used it 13.4% of the time—just against righties—in modest doses, it was nearly unbeatable.
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