The first thing that strikes you when watching Yusei Kikuchi pitch are the similarities to Clayton Kershaw. Not in the quality of their pitches, but the way in which they attack hitters. Both pitch with their left hands, but it goes beyond that.
According to the NPB sabermetrics site DeltaGraphs, Kikuchi threw his fastball and slider a combined 83.3% of the time in 2018. For Kershaw, that number was 83.0%. Kikuchi’s arsenal is filled out with a big curveball that is about 18mph slower than the fastball. Kershaw’s velocity separation is almost identical.