The Blue Jays placed struggling starter Yusei Kikuchi on the 15-day injured list last night due to a neck strain. The team didn’t provide any specifics on a timetable for his return, but he’ll be out of action at least through the All-Star Break.
Kikuchi may have been in danger of ceding his rotation spot anyhow, as manager Charlie Montoyo implied before his IL placement the club could move him to the bullpen in lieu of his next scheduled start (link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). That’s reflective of how poorly the southpaw has pitched of late, as he’s been tagged for a 7.99 ERA in seven starts since the calendar turned to June. That brought his season line up to a 5.12 ERA, on track for his third 5.00+ mark in his four MLB seasons. He’s dominated same-handed batters but been tattooed for a .270/.397/.526 clip against righties, a trend he also showed throughout his three seasons with the Mariners.
With Kikuchi’s underperformance and the loss of Hyun-jin Ryu to Tommy John surgery, the Jays are widely expected to prioritize starting pitching help over the coming weeks. Toronto has gotten generally excellent work from Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah, while swingman Ross Stripling has stepped in well at the back end. José Berríos is amidst a career-worst season, however, and Nate Pearson won’t resume throwing until the end of the month after suffering a lat strain while building back from a battle with mononucleosis.
In other health situations around the game:
- Mike Soroka has made just three starts since the end of the 2019 season. The Braves right-hander tore his Achilles tendon early in 2020, then unfortunately suffered the same fate a year later. Soroka has been working his way back from that pair of devastating injuries in hopes of a midseason return, but he’s now dealing with another setback. As Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported, the 24-year-old was hit in the knee by a comebacker while throwing live batting practice. Atlanta is calling the injury a bruise and has shut Soroka down for the time being, preferring to make sure his knee is at full strength before he resumes a throwing program. It’s obviously a far more minor concern than either of the Achilles tears have been, but the stroke of poor luck will push back his timeline to begin a minor league rehab assignment by at least a little bit.
- The Tigers lost reliever Wily Peralta to the 15-day injured list earlier this week, as he’s dealing with a strained left hamstring. Manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that Peralta is expected to miss a fair bit of time. Hinch suggested it was unlikely he’d be back before the end of July, and it seems possible his absence could extend beyond that. Peralta, who returned to the organization on a minor league deal last winter, has tossed 33 1/3 innings through 23 appearances. The righty has a sparkling 2.16 ERA and a solid 48.4% ground-ball rate, but he’s walked 14% of batters faced with a strikeout rate below the league average.
- Jean Segura has been out since the beginning of June. The Phillies second baseman fractured his right index finger on a bunt attempt, an injury that required surgery and came with a 10-12 week recovery estimate. That set his timetable at late August or perhaps into September, but Segura told reporters this week he feels he could beat that initial projection (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). The 32-year-old recently had a trio of pins removed from his finger and is set for further evaluation next week. If that round of testing comes back as hoped, he could be cleared to start throwing and taking swings. Phils second baseman have posted an impressive .268/.339/.429 line since Segura went down, but there’s no question they’d welcome an opportunity to get him back sooner than anticipated and free up some of their utility options for work elsewhere around the infield.
Soroka can’t catch a break
Brandon Lowe was AB in his first rehab game facing rehabbing Steven Matz and got hit in the back of the head. He’s not the only one.
Ummm, Brandon Lowe was batting when he got hit in the head. They don’t often use position players to pitch during a rehab outing.
Woops, this should have been posted below to WampumWalloper.
Not to mention Lowe didn’t tear his Achilles a day before his 21 Bday only to do it again before even taking the mound. RunDMC should just run along.
He’s talking about Soroka
The Mark Fidrych of 2019 and beyond?
The Braves don’t have protective screens for batting practice pitchers? AA seems to be on a tight spending budget, but bp without protective screens?
“Live BP”, not BP.
Starting to think we’ll never see Soroka again.
Man gotta feel for Soroka.
i hope we never see kikuchi again
Granted.
You are stuck with him for two more years after this season. Not a good sign that he’s already in danger of losing his rotation spot in year one of the deal but a lot of people said going to the AL east was going to be much tougher for him and so far it has been
not necessarily stuck w him for 2 more seasons his contract was front loaded and may prove easier to move than a standard deal
I had forgotten about Soroka. He was supposed to be the face of the future.
Can the Blue Jays put Chuckles on the DL along with half the “coaching” staff? Then get a major league manager. New excuses every year and the same results,
Darth, that is because the problem is at the executive level and until that changes we’ll see much more or the same, as I called in 2016. May the force be with you.
Kikuchi is a creak
Kikuchi truly gave the mariners a gift by opting out. Thank you Yusei!
It was a massive gift. it gave the Mariners payroll flexibility and ridded them of having him on the mound every five days. I remember Jays fans saying their pitching coach could fix him, I truly hoped so for his sake. Hes a nice guy, just hasn’t put it together in the states.
The year is 2027 and Mike Soroka set to come off the DL for return to mound in Atlanta .
All kidding aside , he sure could use some luck.
@doxie. It’s still unbelievable to me that even without Soroka all of 2021 and Acuna most of it the Braves still won it all. I fully expect this Braves team to win the division and go deep into the playoffs.
Ughh I swear Soroka can’t catch a breath. Feel for the kid.
Kikuchi will not be a good reliable major league pitcher unless they totally rebuild his delivery. He needs to get sent down, go back to instructional ball and start again.
I am afraid every little mechanical adjustment that can possibly be made to Kikuchi’s windup and delivery has been tried over and over again the last three seasons. The Jays should have learned from the Mariners travails with Kikuchi. The issue is between the ears…not mechanical. Nice guy, but I doubt he will ever be remedied.
Soroka will return… man is super nice. He used to answer my dms on instagram lol. Hope he gets better.
Kikuchi sucks so bad they had to make up a fake injury to stop him from pitching.
No, he really did strain his neck turning to watch all the hits he was giving up. You can only do it so many times in a row.
A .268/.339/.429 slash line is “impressive”?
Bar’s kinda low around here…
There is talk now of the Blue Jays finishing in 5th behind the Orioles, who have won six straight to pull within four games of the 4th place Jays… “pitiful” isn’t the word; “Titanic” is more descriptive…
They’ve played below .500 since April 30th and just lost two of three to the Athletics, the most pathetic team in MLB.
And the Jays’ telecom giant owner Rogers had their wireless network collapse yesterday, sending emergency rooms and retailers scrambling for solutions, as first responder and payment networks stopped working across our two most populous provinces in Ontario and Quebec!
The mediocrity is deafening.
Everyone is optimistic about Soroka’s return after two major injuries. Then all of the sudden his career is over because a comebacker that bruised up his knee. He’s fine.