It is a shocking regression. If Yusei Kikuchi (32, Toronto Blue Jays) is up to speed, he could lose his spot to Ryu Hyun-jin after the All-Star break.
Kikuchi started on the 16th (hereinafter Korean time) in an away game against the Baltimore Orioles in the 2023 Major League Baseball held at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Kikuchi was evaluated as having changed his pitching mechanic ahead of this season. From the demonstration game, he went on a winning streak, and in 5 games in April, he recorded 4 wins, an average ERA of 3.00, a batting average of 0.240, and a WHIP of 1.11. As his unique wide pitched bullets narrowed, he began to use the power of his fast balls.스포츠토토
However, Kikuchi has been shaken since May. In six games in May, he went 2-2 with an earned run average of 5.83, a batting average of 0.298 and a WHIP of 1.67. He failed to fill 5 innings in 3 games, and threw just 5 innings in 2 games. Quality Start was only once. Again, the number of walks increased slightly, and the number of pitches was not managed, leading to fewer innings.
Kikuchi has not conceded a lot in three games in June. On this day, the average ERA was 3.68 without a win or loss in 3 games including the Baltimore game. Hitting average of 0.237 and WHIP of 1.23, rather better than May. However, he still walks and has four home runs. Even in May, there were a whopping 9 home runs. It is a bad habit to hit a long hit by putting it in the middle when the ball is stretched.
After getting two outs in the first inning, Kikuchi gave up a walk to Anthony Santander, committed a wild throw, and then shot Gunner Henderson for 97 miles to the inside and got a 1 RBI hit from the left. In the second inning, he gave up 2nd and 3rd base steals to Jorge Mateo, then gave up a walk to Ryan McKenna and was in danger. In the third inning, he hit consecutive hits from Adley Luchman and Henderson with sliders and curveballs. In the 5th inning, a 95-mile four-seam went into the middle of the leading hitter, Rutchman, and allowed a solo shot to tie the score. After 2 outs, an error came out, so I couldn’t finish the 5th inning. He barely made it past every inning cleanly.
6 wins, 2 losses, 4.31 ERA in 14 games. It’s not a bad move, but it’s true that the pace that fell compared to April is not recovering. Currently, Toronto is unable to reliably fill the void left by Alec Manoa, who has gone down to the minor leagues.
Trevor Richards made one start. However, he is a bullpen pitcher. He started against the Minnesota Twins in the 11th, but was only able to pitch three innings. He needs time to prepare to pitch long innings, but Toronto’s starting lineup didn’t have that. After appearing in the bullpen against the Houston Astros on the 7th, he took only three days off and started as a starter. The starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers game on the 18th has not been decided yet.
In the field, the argument that a pitcher who will serve as the back of the starting lineup should be recruited through a trade until Ryu Hyun-jin returns is raising its head. However, if this fails, Kikuchi will have to exercise his own coordination skills. If he fails to rebound in the second half, he may have to give up his place to Ryu Hyun-jin in the second half. Considering Ryu Hyun-jin’s return as well as Manoa’s pitching to come back to the big leagues, there is no law that Kikuchi won’t be eliminated from the starting lineup again like last year.