Former MLB pitcher Anthony Kay is expected to come back stateside in 2026, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The left-hander spent the past two seasons pitching for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan.
Kay, 30, was the Mets’ first-round draft pick in 2016. He was traded to the Blue Jays in 2019 as part of the deal that sent Marcus Stroman to New York. The Long Island native would debut later that year and spend four seasons in Toronto, maxing out at 33 2/3 innings in 2021. He then had brief stints with the Cubs and Mets in 2023, and he spent about two weeks with the Athletics following the 2023 campaign; the A’s claimed him off waivers in late October, but he elected free agency after they removed him from their 40-man roster in early November. Altogether, Kay pitched to a 5.59 ERA in 85 1/3 big-league innings from 2019-23, posting a 22.4% strikeout rate and a 12.0% walk rate.
He has seen better results in Japan in each of the past two years. In 2024, Kay posted a 3.42 ERA in 136 2/3 innings for the Bay Stars while striking out 20.2% of hitters and walking 9.0%. His 0.40 home runs allowed per nine innings (HR/9) was especially impressive. Only six Central League pitchers (min. 100 IP) gave up home runs at a lower rate. At the end of the year, Kay helped the BayStars to their first Japan Series victory since 1998, pitching seven scoreless innings and collecting the win in Game 4.
His first season in NPB was no doubt a success. With that said, it’s worth keeping in mind the lower run-scoring environment in Japan; the league average ERA in the Central League in 2024 was 2.88, well below Kay’s 3.42 mark. However, in 2025, his numbers spoke for themselves. He deployed a deep and diverse arsenal to post a 1.74 ERA in 155 innings, cutting his walk rate to 6.8%. The southpaw led all NPB starting pitchers with a 21.9% strikeout rate, while his ERA ranked second, and his 0.46 HR/9 was tied for fourth. He wasn’t just solid; he was dominant.
Following such a strong season, it makes sense that Kay would look to return to Major League Baseball. He may not have garnered much attention on the open market two years ago, but he’s bound to have more suitors now after proving he could thrive as a starting pitcher against high-level competition.
That’s just great
Special K back on Strong Island!
Welcome to the NL Central
Yeah, I know which team will kick the flat tires too.
Tell me that profile doesn’t scream David Stearns Special
He’s coming back from Japan. Doesn’t that mean he’s going to be a Dodger.
I heard that somewhere…
What kind of contract would a guy like this get?
If teams think he can start in MLB, i would think a 2 year pact in the 10m per range. Mikolas is the primary comp i am using, but Vogelsong and to a lesser extent (KBO) Fedde.
As an Os fan, if it was reported they handed him 2 years 20m, i would be fine with the gamble that he is a mid rotation guy since that is functionally inning eater money. I think his pedigree (1st rounder- i think fedde) and the success of those other guys will bump his payday closer to 2 years 30m or 3 years 40m.
Probably something like 2 years at $12-$16 million. That’s what guys like Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde have gotten in recent years.
2 years/$10 million- if he’s lucky
Players who had been back of the rotation arms for most of their careers like Matt Boyd, Andrew Heaney, and Michael Lorenzen all signed for more than $5 million. I think he can break $12 million.
Maybe 2 years $8 million? He’s not getting a lot of strikeouts in spite of a fastball averaging 94.5 MPH and his walk rate improvement could be a fluke of this year. A good pitching coach will be essential to extracting any value out of his arm. That being said, he should be able to eat innings
Back to the Mets?
Possible Angel, who never like to pay big bucks for pitching, or Padre, who need quantity in rotation and can’t pay $$$ for all of them. Twins are in a cash crunch, too.
I’m sure his dad Michael is happy about this.
It took going to Japan to learn not to hit barrels?
old and fresh off success in the NPB. welcome to the Black and Orange in Baltimore, sir. lol
he would be a reasonable signing- they really need 2-3 SP- Rodgers and Bradish will be the front of the rotation, but after that it is a gamble on Grayson returning, and then back of hte rotation fodder (Wells, Kreamer, ect). They need to sign 2 SP, and likely do not want to sign something long term that will hurt their ability to lock up their young talent long term. I think they dip into this level of FA SP and grab 2 of them (like last year with Morton and Sugano)
“A deep and diverse arsenal”. That’s a vague description but I would interpret that as a 5+ pitch mix. It would be nice to know what that looks like. That’s a very different guy than he was as a major leaguer the first time.
Orioles #4 SP, here we go!
Mets for the 3rd time!
Sounds like an Astros project.