Game Notes: Kikuchi’s Debut

» 14 June 2011 » In npb »

On Sunday, Seibu prospect Yusei Kikuchi made his ichi-gun debut, an afternoon start against the Hanshin Tigers. The results weren’t impressive: 2.1 IP, 53 pitches, 14 batters faced, 6 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 walk, 4 runs, 4 earned. That line looks a little worse if we note that two of Kikuchi’s seven outs were sacrifice bunts by Keiichi Hirano.

Stuff-wise, Kikuchi’s day was a mixed bag. He didn’t have the fastball velocity that he showed in his high school days, and while he had great movement on his slider, his command of it was spotty. He fell behind in the count to most of the batters he faced, and lacked the swing-and-miss stuff to get even. But on the positive side, he worked exclusively down in the zone, and induced a number of extraordinarily weak, squiber-ish ground balls. All of the six hits he surrendered were singles, and only one was a decisive line drive.

Kikuchi was clearly better against the weak part of Hanshin’s order, so maybe he needs a little more time at ni-gun to work things out. The basics are there, and if Kikuchi can add a few more kmph to his fastball, a little more polish on his slider, and a changeup or a curveball to round things out, I think he’ll be a quality professional pitcher.

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    1. Patrick
      passerby
      14/06/2011 at 10:34 am Permalink

      His take-back is definitely smaller now than in his high school days. I think he is doing it mainly for a better control possibly at the expense of a few kilometers. To be honest, I’m not a fan of his current form, but I’m not a professional coach. Maybe his secondary reason is to avoid injuries. Even in high school he seemed to be bothered by back pains.

    2. Patrick
      Patrick
      14/06/2011 at 11:09 am Permalink

      He looked smoother and a little more confident in spring training, but what I saw was limited. I thought he had a tendency to overthrow in high school, when he was hitting 153 kmph he was usually throwing shoulder-high fastballs. But when he backed off and worked lower in the zone he was still hitting 145-147.

    3. Patrick
      Kyle
      14/06/2011 at 5:45 pm Permalink

      Do scouts still believe he is going to dominate? I also saw this game, and he definitely didn’t impress. He was in trouble almost from the beginning. But, one start doesn’t really tell the whole story.

    4. Patrick
      Patrick
      15/06/2011 at 7:55 am Permalink

      I don’t know what scouts think. For me, he’s a guy that turns 20 on the 17th, and he still his upside ahead of him.

    5. Patrick
      lester850
      15/06/2011 at 11:17 pm Permalink

      Maybe he’s just nervous. Or he’s not throwing hard in order to “save energy for the long season”.

      Somebody should tell him not to throw junk balls like most the old guys.

    6. Patrick
      DeGavph
      15/06/2011 at 11:56 pm Permalink

      The kid’s nineteen so he’s definately got to have plenty of potential left….

      But I would’ve been a lot happier if I’d seen bad control and hot velocity instead of what I saw that day though…