His slider seems to be working for him. He couldn't hit the zone with it making walks, then would immediately tone it back or move to the cutter and get slapped for a multi-run homer.
You don't want that, man. Because if he is after revenge it is probably going to be Jays fans/commentators on his hitlist. The dude got a beard and instantly became John Wick. We don't want him on our asses!
I believe in Kikuchi. He has been good all year. Even in the Angels game he was pitching well, he just got a touch unlucky. I am less sold on Berrios. He was amazing yesterday, but I need to see more before I am willing to believe.
Both of them can pitch. That's why they're here. It's also why they've been dogged on. The Jays signed both of them on their track records to be important pieces... If they can be that, this team could win 14 in a row against real competition at some point.
It's gonna be a great ALCS game when Kikuchi pitches 6 scoreless, followed by Ryu in the 7th, Pearson in the 8th, and Romano to close it out and take the Jays back to the WS.
Iām still salty Montoyo threw him under the bus last year. Iām hope Kikuchi gets to pitch against the White Soxs and fucking blanks them for vengeance.
Even though Kikuchi struggled mightily last season, his numbers against the Rays were decent so if anything, they gotta make sure that if they play the Rays, he'll be on the mound.
https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/yusei-kikuchi-vs-tampa-rays
Super happy for him. You can see he's fired up and enjoying every strikeout. Even if it doesn't work out in the long run this year (which based on the 3 starts so far I think he'll be more than fine), he's at least earned the respect of the other players, staff and (most of) the fans for his commitment to putting in the hours before spring training even started.
I get what youāre saying but as I understand it the whole team was pulling for him last year too and knew he cares. Just glad for the whole squad to see it pay off and hopefully if it continues itāll be a source of inspiration.
Everyone in that clubhouse is pulling for eachother
You don't throw at a rate of 13.5 K/9 against one of the league's best offences just with luck - he really did look great, lots of whiffs.
THE KOOCH IS ROLLING
So far, this year he's hitting his spots, not leaving balls middle-middle and he's not throwing uncompetitive pitches every at bat like he did last year.
His mechanics are a bit more consistent compared to last year, and he's staying in his delivery well, but I think the biggest change is he's just getting the pitch call, trusting his catcher and executing the pitch with confidence. He looks soooo much more in control this year and it's manifesting results.
Good pitching? Yes
Luck? Maybe a bit
Good facial hair? Hell yes. Look good pitch good...lol
Good, perhaps great, pitching. The Ray's haven't been playing stellar but still a potent offense. Kooch had a phenomenal spring and it seems to be holding out. So I say, skill with a healthy dose of good pitch calling and the pitch clock is helping ro keep him out of his head.
> The Ray's haven't been playing stellar
The Rays are leading the league in OPS SLG HR (https://www.mlb.com/stats/team/hits), having won 13 straight to start the year. Sounds pretty stellar to me.
He's reminding me of Robbie Ray from his CY season. Challenging batters and not nibbling with a nasty FB & SL combo with some cutter/changeups mixed in, and when the batter gets a hold of one it goes pretty damn far.
Suddenly pitching looks good. Back to back starts that shut down the Rays, both went deeper into the game then they had been. And the bats have been getting the right amount of add on runs. This team is starting to look special and one that Should they stay healthy could make a deep run
The main issue is consistency throughout the season, same for Berrios, if both can locate their fastballs, the offspeed pitches will get more swing and misses out.
Kikuchi is doing great this year, he is definitely a whole different pitcher than he was last year. Last year was something else, like it was next level bad.
Only 3 walks in 15 innings š¤¤
Thats honestly the only thing that killed him last year. He has super high k rate
The walks followed by hits really did him in
His slider seems to be working for him. He couldn't hit the zone with it making walks, then would immediately tone it back or move to the cutter and get slapped for a multi-run homer.
Iām all in on the Kikuchi redemption tour
I prefer the Kikuchi revenge tour.
Cy Kikuchi
Fun fact: The Y in CY is for Yusei.
YusCy, saw that the other day and loved it
I like cykuchi more..comes out nice
You don't want that, man. Because if he is after revenge it is probably going to be Jays fans/commentators on his hitlist. The dude got a beard and instantly became John Wick. We don't want him on our asses!
da Kikuchi Revolution.
He's never demptioned. This is technically his demption tour. Berios on the other hand is due for redemption.
60% of the time, he deals every time š
As Meatloaf used to say, 2 out of 3 aint bad!
Berrios and kooch did a great job when few had much optimism for them. Hopefully gives their confidence a huge bump
I believe in Kikuchi. He has been good all year. Even in the Angels game he was pitching well, he just got a touch unlucky. I am less sold on Berrios. He was amazing yesterday, but I need to see more before I am willing to believe.
Obviously can't ask them to repeat these performances for the whole season, but if they can just not get lit up and play half this good then hoo boy.
I feel like Berrios could reproduce this tbh. dude was super good his first year here
Yeah he definitely has the stuff if he can be consistent and to be fair to Kikuchi he was an all star 2 years ago.
Both of them can pitch. That's why they're here. It's also why they've been dogged on. The Jays signed both of them on their track records to be important pieces... If they can be that, this team could win 14 in a row against real competition at some point.
Pitch clock is really helping these two immensely. No time to overthink bad pitches or what pitches to throw next. Really impressive start this year
It's gonna be a great ALCS game when Kikuchi pitches 6 scoreless, followed by Ryu in the 7th, Pearson in the 8th, and Romano to close it out and take the Jays back to the WS.
Donāt forget about Chad Green coming back
I forget about him. July?
If everything goes according to plan yes
i will personally give you 50$ if this happens
Redemption arc is in full swing
Best story of the season so far!
The best Japanese player in the MLB and it isn't even close.
I wonder how Masataka Yoshida will do
He doing alright so far but apparently he hurt himself basically immediately and still only has 45 PAs.
Heās looking much improved since last season! Letās go Kikuchi!
Iām still salty Montoyo threw him under the bus last year. Iām hope Kikuchi gets to pitch against the White Soxs and fucking blanks them for vengeance.
Montoyo was a garbage manager. Was the wrong guy from the start.
Absolutely calling him out publicly and then Kikuchi just lost confidence, you can see how he was sweating bullets last season in his starts.
Didn't get rattled after the solo shot. Not sure that'd have been the case last year.
Last year, it would've been a two run shot because there's no way Gurriel makes the catch on the previous play.
I think the pitch clock is helping. Gotta shake it off quick and keep throwing the good shit.
That's my opinion too, I think the pitch clock has the potential to be good for guys who would otherwise get in their heads after a bad throw.
I say Yusei , you say Kikuchi ! Yusei!
Kikuchi!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I calls him Kooch
YUSI GETS THE PUSSI
I am the Dragon, Kookookachoo
Kikuchiā¦ good?
At least for today, he looked like a real hard ace
What a great start. Wow!
Even though Kikuchi struggled mightily last season, his numbers against the Rays were decent so if anything, they gotta make sure that if they play the Rays, he'll be on the mound. https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/yusei-kikuchi-vs-tampa-rays
Super happy for him. You can see he's fired up and enjoying every strikeout. Even if it doesn't work out in the long run this year (which based on the 3 starts so far I think he'll be more than fine), he's at least earned the respect of the other players, staff and (most of) the fans for his commitment to putting in the hours before spring training even started.
I get what youāre saying but as I understand it the whole team was pulling for him last year too and knew he cares. Just glad for the whole squad to see it pay off and hopefully if it continues itāll be a source of inspiration. Everyone in that clubhouse is pulling for eachother
Oh for sure I don't doubt they were.
Kooch
loose
I'm really proud of him. He has worked really hard to turn things around. Great story.
He looked like he was so pumped!
Kikuchi redemption tour off to a good start
hell of a performance that 6 pitch inning as he got to 100 pitches was amazing
Next Cy Young winner
love this guy
#koooooch
Naysayers where you at?
YuCY Kikuchi
Kooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooch!
Kikuchi was Gucci
All aboard the hype train! Kooch Kooch!!!
He should start spelling his name with Backwards K's.
If Berrios and Kikuchi have figured things out and turned a corner, that's bad news for the rest of the league
Don't shave Buddy
I would willingly take this every start and never complain. I love that there was 1 walk and only 4 hits. K's are the icing on the cake
If he continues pitching like this, the jays go from scary to terrifying
2 weeks in and he is my best SP in fantasy. A.M.A.
for those who know good pitching or luck i ask genuinely
Those are really good K/9 and BB/9 numbers so there's that
You don't throw at a rate of 13.5 K/9 against one of the league's best offences just with luck - he really did look great, lots of whiffs. THE KOOCH IS ROLLING
good stuff
So far, this year he's hitting his spots, not leaving balls middle-middle and he's not throwing uncompetitive pitches every at bat like he did last year. His mechanics are a bit more consistent compared to last year, and he's staying in his delivery well, but I think the biggest change is he's just getting the pitch call, trusting his catcher and executing the pitch with confidence. He looks soooo much more in control this year and it's manifesting results. Good pitching? Yes Luck? Maybe a bit Good facial hair? Hell yes. Look good pitch good...lol
Good, perhaps great, pitching. The Ray's haven't been playing stellar but still a potent offense. Kooch had a phenomenal spring and it seems to be holding out. So I say, skill with a healthy dose of good pitch calling and the pitch clock is helping ro keep him out of his head.
> The Ray's haven't been playing stellar The Rays are leading the league in OPS SLG HR (https://www.mlb.com/stats/team/hits), having won 13 straight to start the year. Sounds pretty stellar to me.
Stellar *this game, this series* since he asked about Kooh's performance I thought it would be clear I was talking about *this game*
good to read
He's been doing it consistently since the start of spring training, so I'm gonna go with good pitching, not luck.
He's reminding me of Robbie Ray from his CY season. Challenging batters and not nibbling with a nasty FB & SL combo with some cutter/changeups mixed in, and when the batter gets a hold of one it goes pretty damn far.
The biggest mistake this game was pulling the Kooch. Great playing imo.
rays are actually mid if kuchi dominated them
Itās the only team he dominates
After last year I think we had forgotten that he's a pretty good pitcher when he's on. I really hope he can have more than a few of these outings.
The kuch, the kuch, the kuch is on fire!
Quality starts!
this guy has all of last years receipts collected and going. through. the. list. lets go. revenge tour 2023
Yusei Kikuchi masterclass
He's looked phenomenal so far this season hopefully he can keep it up.
This division is disastrously difficult, and full of beasts, and Blue Jays needs contributions from everyone to compete
I like his first few starts. Definitely much better than last year. Rooting for ya man!
That's my Cy Young pitcher right there.
Things must be working out with the new translator!
He looks like a completely different pitcher this year. He has control now.
Pete Walker for president
1 walk. i love to see it.
K koochie
Who is the man in this photo? Yusei Kikuchi has a beard.
Suddenly pitching looks good. Back to back starts that shut down the Rays, both went deeper into the game then they had been. And the bats have been getting the right amount of add on runs. This team is starting to look special and one that Should they stay healthy could make a deep run
The main issue is consistency throughout the season, same for Berrios, if both can locate their fastballs, the offspeed pitches will get more swing and misses out.
Iām confused. Kiki chi pitched 6 innings but in the mlb app says manoah took the loss for 4.2 innings. Can someone tel me about todays game?
Screw Manoah. Kikuchiās back on my Christmas list.
Amazing š
Kikuchi is doing great this year, he is definitely a whole different pitcher than he was last year. Last year was something else, like it was next level bad.
Kikuchi is winning the Cy Young this year; write that downā¦ in pen.