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Giants Release Shun Yamaguchi

By Steve Adams | June 3, 2021 at 2:38pm CDT

The Giants have released right-hander Shun Yamaguchi, tweets Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. The former Blue Jays right-hander, who inked a minor league contract with San Francisco after he was released by Toronto, announced on Instagram that he is headed back to his native Japan.

Yamaguchi, 33, starred for the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars and the Yomiuri Giants in a 14-year career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball before pursuing MLB opportunities in the 2019-20 offseason. He parlayed a career 3.35 ERA in Japan — including a 2.91 ERA and 26.7 percent strikeout rate in his final NPB season — into a multi-year deal with Toronto. The Blue Jays inked Yamaguchi to a two-year, $6.35MM deal on the heels of that terrific NPB career. It was a low-risk investment, but one that simply didn’t pan out.

Through 25 2/3 innings with the Jays last year, Yamaguchi pitched to an 8.06 ERA with a lackluster 26-to-17 K/BB ratio and six home runs allowed. The Blue Jays designated Yamaguchi for assignment and released him before Spring Training games began. He latched on with San Francisco and had a strong spring showing (one run n six innings), but his work in Triple-A thus far has been sub-par. He’s been tagged for 18 runs (16 earned) on 19 hits and 14 walks with 25 strikeouts through 23 1/3 innings.

Given Yamaguchi’s track record in Nippon Professional Baseball, it’s quite possible that he’ll latch on with another club in Japan. There’s certainly nothing that rules out another attempt in MLB somewhere down the road, but for the time being it seems that’s not Yamaguchi’s focus.

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San Francisco Giants Transactions Shun Yamaguchi

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27 Comments

  1. tdotjays

    4 years ago

    Shunned Yamaguchi.

    8
    Reply
    • FredMcGriff for the HOF

      4 years ago

      Best Japanese ball player come to the MLB is still Ichiro Suzuki. Shohei Ohtani might get to that level eventually.

      2
      Reply
    • Wilmer Flores' Tears

      4 years ago

      Never heard of him. What were his hits?

      2
      Reply
  2. The Baseball Fan

    4 years ago

    Toronto

    Reply
    • Baseball 1600

      4 years ago

      He’s going to Japan

      2
      Reply
    • bigguccisosa300

      4 years ago

      So damn bad lmao

      1
      Reply
  3. Ben621

    4 years ago

    Is he related to Kristi Yamaguchi?

    2
    Reply
    • birdsfan415

      4 years ago

      nah

      Reply
    • samlumalo

      4 years ago

      Yamaguchi is a common last name in Japan. Like Smith, Jones and such.

      5
      Reply
    • pustule bosey

      4 years ago

      Well considering kristi yamaguchi is from Hayward and shun is from Japan and there are like millions of people with the last name yamaguchi, I doubt it highly

      1
      Reply
      • RB510

        4 years ago

        She’s from Fremont not Hayward. Raised there,her Dad had a dental practice there, and she graduated from Mission San Jose High School (Fremont) in 89 or 90.

        Reply
  4. bigdaddyt

    4 years ago

    Not a surprise was terrible for jays last year

    Reply
  5. Joel Peterson

    4 years ago

    Such a small sample size. Sure he hasn’t been good but thats less than 50 innings half of which are AAA innings.

    2
    Reply
    • noraj9

      4 years ago

      If he can’t get AAA hitters out I can’t imagine anyone will trust him to get MLB pitchers out.

      4
      Reply
      • Joel Peterson

        4 years ago

        Judging a guy coming over from another country after such a small sample doesn’t sit well with me. Less than 50 innings gets you released twice? That’s insane.

        4
        Reply
        • Jean Matrac

          4 years ago

          No that’s not insane. That’s typical. If a guy can’t show anything in almost 50 innings between AAA and MLB, and I mean he’s shown absolutely nothing, then that guy is going to get released. Not only are his overall stats bad, but so are all the peripherals.

          And teams aren’t making these decisions based on stats alone. Clearly the Sacramento pitching coaches felt that he offered nothing that was worth keeping him around. They’ve seen him throw more than enough to know that. And if releasing him was truly short-sighted another team would have signed him.

          Teams aren’t going to carry a non-productive guy just to keep from discouraging others that come to the US from other countries. You either have the talent, or you don’t.

          Toronto was willing to release him even though they owed him several million dollars, and SF was willing to let him go despite his low cost. That ought to tell you something.

          1
          Reply
        • Dexxter

          4 years ago

          He’s also 33 years old.

          I’m sure teams would be more patient with a young pitcher struggling in his first 50ip… but an older pitcher isn’t going to get the same treatment.

          Reply
        • smuzqwpdmx

          4 years ago

          The 43 runs he allowed are enough to cover a hundred innings.

          Really it was obvious he’d be released very early last year. His fastball is too straight for his mediocre velocity to work in MLB… or AAA apparently. In Japan he was throwing a little harder and they don’t see much velocity over there so he got away with it.

          Reply
  6. Dorothy_Mantooth

    4 years ago

    This is a what have you done for me lately business and Shun hasn’t done much at all lately. He should go back to Japan and dominate over there.

    Reply
    • Joel Peterson

      4 years ago

      He probably will. And the next guy who thinks about coming over is gonna think twice about it. Thats unfortunate.

      Reply
      • Ron Tingley

        4 years ago

        He got paid.

        1
        Reply
      • Dunk Dunkington

        4 years ago

        He got paid more then he would in Japan the last 2 years. It will not discourage anybody.

        1
        Reply
  7. scottn59c

    4 years ago

    No big loss. Good luck in Japan!

    Reply
  8. Curly Was The Smart Stooge

    4 years ago

    won2. lost4 8.06 ERA in 25.2 innings – why are we even talking about this?

    1
    Reply
  9. jimmertee

    4 years ago

    Guchi was called a bad signing the day the Jays signed him. A waste of time and money. Bad professional scouting.

    3
    Reply
  10. pustule bosey

    4 years ago

    Too bad I watched his start on the river cats the other night and he was lights out, could be he just wants to go back to the npb

    Reply
  11. bigguccisosa300

    4 years ago

    Anyone who says he needs another chance clearly did not watch him with the Jays. Absolutely awful. Automatic big inning whenever he was came in. They couldn’t even send him down thanks to his contract so they were basically a man short in the bullpen the entire season. Yet good ol’ Charlie seemed to keep throwin’ him out there in big spots.

    Reply

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