In contrast, his career ERA is 4.92, and his career WHIP is 1.41.Ĭould Yusei Kikuchi finally become the consistent front-end starter that he was in Japan? In five starts, he was 4-0 with a 3.00 earned-run mark and 1.11 WHIP. Yusei KikuchiĪfter three inconsistent seasons in Seattle and another in his first year with the Blue Jays, Kikuchi gave reason for optimism in the first month of the 2023 campaign. He continues to be a steady power threat: at the end of the month, he had seven home runs and 18 RBI. 294 and his OPS by more than 100 points to. He endured a 3-27 stretch from April 19-25 but then got nine hits in his final 22 at bats to raise his average to. In his designated-hitter role, Ohtani was a bit inconsistent. Only Michael Kopech (eight seconds) of the Chicago White Sox and Tanner Houck (7.2 seconds) of the Boston Red Sox have made greater reductions. He has the third-largest reduction in time between pitch releases (6.4 seconds) – from an average of 21.7 seconds last season to a 15.3 average this year. His now-legendary WBC-tournament-ending strikeout of Mike Trout came on an 87-mph sweeper that broke 17 inches.Īnd one more point is that Ohtani has shown admirable adaptability to MLB’s new pitch timer. Ohtani’s sweeper has been the second-best pitch in baseball since the start of last season based on the number of runs it’s saved his team. He is said to have mastered the “sweeper,” a trendy spin-off (pun intended) of the slider that has more horizontal movement than a traditional slider. On April 11, he passed Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan to set an Angels franchise record with his 10 th consecutive game of allowing two or fewer runs per start. The only blemish on his overall record thus far is his total of 17 walks, an average of 4.5 per nine innings. The only hiccup was in his last start on April 27 vs the Oakland A’s when he gave up five runs, including two home runs, in six innings.įor the season, he is 4-0 with a 1.85 earned-run average and a 0.82 WHIP, and he has struck out 46 batters in 34 innings. He gave up just eight hits in 28 innings while striking out 38 batters and posting an earned-run average and WHIP of 0.64 and 0.82, respectively. Through his first five starts, Ohtani was virtually unhittable. Pitchers Kodai Senga of the New York Mets and Yu Darvish of the San Diego Padres, along with outfielder Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs, had some shining moments, as well as some not-so-bright and shiny.Īnd, at the other end of the spectrum, pitchers Kenta Maeda of the Minnesota Twins and Shintaro Fujinami of the Oakland A’s struggled.įollowing is a more detailed look. Shohei Othani of the Los Angeles was his usual all-world self pitcher Yusei Kikuchi of the Toronto Blue Jays teased that he might finally be fulfilling the potential that his stuff has always promised, and outfielder Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox did a course correction midway through April and finished with a 10-game hitting streak. The first month of the 2023 Major League Baseball season was a mixed bag for the eight Japanese import players – some outstanding, some average, and some just plain difficult. Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox busts out the dumbbells after hitting his first MLB homerun against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 3, 2023. USA Pacific Northwest Tour & Alaska Midnight Sun Game.Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi (Golden Eagles).Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima (Carp).
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