Angels to Sign Yusei Kikuchi: What to Make of Move

Yusei Kikuchi is headed back to the AL West. The Angels signed Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal on November 25, continuing a busy winter for Los Angeles (AL). After adding several veterans earlier in November, the Angels pick up a veteran starter who set a career-high in strikeouts last season.

A Look at Kikuchi

The past three seasons have seen Yusei Kikuchi go from afterthought to one of the game’s more underrated starters. However, Kikuchi was anything but underrated in 2024. The 33-year-old struck out 206 batters between Toronto and Houston last season, the first time in his MLB career he hit the marker.

Kikuchi signed a three-year deal with Toronto in the 2021-22 offseason, and his first season was a near-disaster. The left-hander posted a career-worst 12.8% BB%. Along the ways, the Jays have made tweaks with how Kikuchi has thrown and, to a certain extent, his arsenal.

Toronto worked extensively with him on how he throws the baseball, and one significant change made was to his release angle on the slider. Thanks to new Statcast info on arm angles, one can see that Kikuchi’s arm angle on his slider (39.3° mean) lined roughly the same with his fastball (39.0°) in 2024.

What can that do? Well, it makes it easier to mirror one with the other and have the two pitches come out of the same chute.

He still maintains a higher arm angle on his curveball (51.0°), a pitch that requires one to stay on top of.

Two years ago, hitters had a .289 AVG/.414 wOBA off his slider. In 2024? That changed to .201 AVG/.266 wOBA.

And this past season, Kikuchi went with a circle-change grip, one that had a mean velocity of 86.8 MPH, 1.9 MPH slower than his split-change in 2023 and roughly a nine MPH difference from his fastball. The change saw Kikuchi recorded a 35.8% Whiff% in 2024, up from the 19.3% Whiff% on his change in 2023.

With the Blue Jays, Kikuchi struck out 130 and walked just 30 over 115.2 IP in 2024. He continued to build off a terrific 2023 (181 K over 167.2 IP) and thrived after a midseason trade to the AL West.

The Astros paid a pretty penny to add Kikuchi to their rotation in the summer, as Houston traded top prospects Jake Bloss and Joey Loperfido to net the lefty. The move, despite the Astros losing in the Wild Card Round, worked. From August 1 through the end of the regular season, Kikuchi posted a 2.70 ERA, with 76 strikeouts and 14 walks over 60 frames.

His 76 strikeouts during that timeframe was fourth-most in the Majors, behind only Blake Snell (84), Logan Gilbert (84), and Zack Wheeler (86).

Yusei Kikuchi whiff map 2024 — Kikuchi liberally throws his fastball up, something he’s stated in the past he does on purpose to set up his secondary stuff. It makes sense, as it’s proper sequencing and his fastball has enough induced movement (16.9” IVB), velocity, and plus extension.

The one downside to Kikuchi is that he’s a power pitcher, which can lead to a ton of strikeouts — and home runs. Kikuchi loves to throw his fastball up in the zone. And why wouldn’t he? Kikuchi has elite extension (7.0”) when throwing the baseball and can speed up on hitters.

But, that approach can lead to hard-hit balls if not thrown high enough on hitters. That happened often to Kikuchi in 2024, as 18 of the 25 home runs he conceded were off his four-seamer.

Per reports, the Angels signed Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $63MM deal.

Analysis

The Angels continue a busy winter, one that’s already seen Los Angeles add Travis d’Arnaud and Kyle Hendricks via free agency, plus a trade to pick up Jorge Soler from the Braves.

As noted earlier in the offseason, the Angels had the flexibility to take on more money to improve their roster. With the Kikuchi deal baked in, the Angels still have approximately $73.6MM (per Spotrac) in tax space left, thanks to several notable youngsters still not arbitration-eligible. Zach Neto, Logan O’Hoppe, Nolan Schanuel are among players who will make close to the minimum salary next season.

Los Angeles had a pressing need for pitching, as the Angels really only had one reliable starter in 2024, in All-Star Tyler Anderson. Jose Soriano looked good in spurts, and he’s among a young group of up-and-coming starters, including Caden Dana and Samuel Aldegheri. But, the Angels finished 2024 with the third-worst ERA (4.97) and fourth-worst SIERA (4.62) among starters.

Kikuchi, despite his flaws, is a strong strikeout pitcher who shined over the last two seasons.

We highlighted starting pitching as the Angels’ most pressing need this winter. Take a look at what other American League teams should look to target during the 2024-25 offseason.