He’s Yusei Kikuchi. After eight years of being one of the most dependable pitchers in Nippon Professional Baseball from 2011 to 2018, he’s bounced around the American League over the last six seasons. The Red Sox hit around faced the lefty pitcher nine times in his career, mostly during his two and a half years in Toronto. He was traded to the Astros for the latter half of 2024, finishing out the year with the highest season strikeout total of his career (206). If you think you’ve read this article recently, you have: as Toronto was floundering mid-season, Jake Roy wrote a trade deadline Smash or Pass piece on him, ultimately deciding to pass due to home run issues.
Smash or Pass: Yusei Kikuchi
