TJ Cotterill
The News Tribune
The Mariners have scouted Yusei Kikuchi maybe more than any other overseas player in general manager Jerry Dipoto’s tenure with the club.
And all their intel on the star Japanese lefty says he’s worth it.
“He’s very good,” Dipoto told reporters Monday from MLB’s winter meetings in Las Vegas. “His performance speaks for itself. He’s got real stuff and he’s had a lot of success in Japan.”
That’s why Dipoto says he’s pushing to bring the 27-year-old Kikuchi to Seattle next season after he went 14-4 with a 3.08 ERA in 23 starts and 163 2/3 innings with the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan’s top league.
Over eight seasons in Japan, Kikuchi has a 2.81 ERA and in 2017 he struck out 217 batters in 187 2/3 innings pitched (with a 1.97 ERA). That’s why the Mariners have plenty of competition for his services.
Various scouting reports say Kikuchi might not be a top-of-the-rotation starter, but he can throw four pitches for strikes. His fastball sit between 92-94, though he can reach 98. He has said Clayton Kershaw is his favorite player.
He might not be Shohei Ohtani, but he did attend the same high school as the two-way star who spurned the Mariners for the Angels last offseason.
But the Mariners were buyers last offseason and were trying to make a playoff run. Now they’re taking a step back, which might not be so appealing to Kikuchi.
Dipoto said Kikuchi would still fit into their 2021 plans for postseason contention if he were to sign, but the question is would Kikuchi be interested in biding his time in a rebuild?
“I don’t know what his interest level is in playing in Seattle just yet,” Dipoto said. “But we are interested and he does fit our timeline. By the time we get to our next (playoff) window he’s 29. Right now the players we are centering ourselves around, Mallex Smith will be 26, Mitch (Haniger) 28 and Marco (Gonzales) is 27 this year. That’s the age of that center part of our group and the 22, 23 and 24 year olds that surround them makes for an awfully interesting midseason 2020 look.
“And since I don’t think Kikuchi is going to sign a one-year deal, he should be very capable of being a part of what we’re trying to do. Now whether he wants to come here or not I can’t tell you.”
But what Dipoto can also push is Seattle’s market and success with previous Japanese players, including Ichiro (who is still in line to open the season with the Mariners against the Oakland Athletics in Japan), as well as Kazuhiro Sasaki or more recently Hisashi Iwakuma.
“I think what makes us unique among the major league markets is the way our market has taken star players from Japan and really maximized their potential, whether that’s from a marketing perspective or the community,” Dipoto said. “Whether it’s Kaz Sasaki or Ichiro, those players turned into superstars and I think some of that comes from the market. We are heavy in our influence organizationally, whether it’s the Nintendo years or some of those players who are still connected.
“But I don’t know Kikuchi personally, so I don’t know how much of that affects him.”
