Game of the Day

The Mariners and Athletics finish the Japan series with Yusei Kikuchi making his major league debut against Marco Estrada, making his Oakland debut.

Kikuchi pitched for Seibu in Nippon Profession Baseball (NPB). He plays 2019 as a 28 year old, and his career was solid. In the last two years, however, he upped his strikeout rate and greatly lowered his walk rate, something that should have attracted the attention of MLB teams. His innings pitched are fairly low by MLB standards, however, so we will see how he holds up under a full season. On the other hand, with so few innings he may not have stressed his arm as much.

Estrada joins his fourth team after a down year in Toronto. He averaged 8.1 K per 9 IP through the 2017 season, but dropped to 6.5 K per 9 IP in 2018. The main difference appears to be a loss of velocity on his cutter. His fastball velocity has been consistent throughout his career, but he cannot throw the cut fastball as hard as he used to.

Enjoy!

from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2OhbVs1