Much was made of Yusei Kikuchi during the preseason. We saw a bump in velocity, and then there was a lot of talk about cleaning up his mechanics and tinkering with his pitches. With so many positives changes, it’s hard not to get too excited. Of course, most preseason storylines turn out to be for naught, because they’re either too speculative, or downright fallacious. Well, after watching Kikuchi on Saturday night, I think every bit of hype he received is deserved.
In March, our own Jake Mailhot wrote about how Kikuchi was in the process of reinventing himself.