Spring, revamped delivery bringing speed for Mariners starter Yusei Kikuchi’s pitches

Spring training has brought speed for Seattle Mariners starter Yusei Kikuchi. About five months after the left-hander completed an uneven rookie season, he’s feeling on the right track.

The fast track.

He’s seen an uptick in his velocity across the board through his two spring training starts, including Friday afternoon’s 6-2 road win over the Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

“Overall, in all of my pitches, the velocity has gone up,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Kevin Ando. “I believe that will lead to more swings and misses, and more strikeouts.”

After spending his offseason diligently focusing on increasing his velocity, the 28-year-old is seeing immediate results against Cactus League hitters.

Across 2 1/3 innings Friday, he faced 10 batters, allowing one run on one hit — Starling Marte doubled down the left-field line with one out in the third, and was the final batter Kikuchi faced — with two walks and three strikeouts.

Kikuchi’s fastball reached as high as 96 mph, keeping up with the velocity he had in his first spring outing Sunday, and didn’t tail off despite him ramping up to 45 pitches. He said he’s also increased his spin rate on the pitch by about 500 rpm.

“Getting down the mound, it’s coming out of his hand, you’re seeing the velocity — 95-96 today,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Anybody who throws that hard, it makes your secondary stuff that much better.”

Those pitches played well against the Diamondbacks, too. Kikuchi’s noticed an uptick in the velocity of his slider and curveball, and was particularly pleased with how his slider — a point of focus for this start — looked.

A pitch that was averaging close to 86 mph last season, per Baseball Savant, jumped as high as 93 on Friday. Kikuchi used it as a wipeout pitch in the second inning, and though he allowed a pair of walks, he ended up striking out the side.

“I think when it was bad last year, the velocity of the slider wasn’t as good, and it was acting more like a curveball,” Kikuchi said. “Hitters were able to realize that it wasn’t a fastball earlier and sooner, so I think the slider being around the 90-mph mark is a good speed for me.”

“I thought that was better today — he threw a bunch of them,” Servais said.

Kikuchi’s pitch mix — and some athleticism — helped him get out of the first inning in just eight pitches. He induced three infield ground balls, and twice rushed over to first base to cover for an out.

The second inning was longer, but he worked around a leadoff walk to David Peralta, a one-out walk to Travis Snider, and one pitch his foot got caught on the mound and lost his balance, to strand two runners.

Servais said moving forward he’d like to see Kikuchi’s tempo stay steady with runners on base, but is happy with the overall progression so far this spring.

“He’s got to stay with that attacking mode,” Servais said. “He didn’t quite do that in the second inning, but he got through it. Good outing. … He’ll continue to build, and hopefully we’ll get him out for four innings next time.”

Kikuchi’s next start could be late next week after the Mariners cycle through Marco Gonzales, Kendall Graveman, Justus Sheffield, Justin Dunn and Taijuan Walker — who has yet to pitch in a game.

This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 6:49 PM.

Lauren Smith

The News Tribune

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Lauren Smith is a sports reporter at The News Tribune. She has covered high school sports for TNT and The Olympian, as well as the Seattle Mariners and Washington Huskies. She is a graduate of UW and Emerald Ridge High School.