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Yu Darvish

Padres Reinstate Joe Musgrove, Designate Carl Edwards

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As expected, the Padres reinstated Joe Musgrove from the 60-day injured list to start tonight’s game against the Pirates. San Diego designated reliever Carl Edwards Jr. for assignment to open space on both the active and 40-man rosters.

Musgrove has been sidelined since the end of May on account of elbow inflammation. This was his second elbow-related IL stint of the season. He hasn’t looked like himself around the injuries, struggling to a 5.66 ERA over 10 starts. His 92.4 MPH fastball speed was a bit below last season’s 93.1 MPH average. Opponents teed off on both his four-seam and cutter. Musgrove allowed nearly two home runs per nine innings and saw his strikeout rate fall to 20.6% — his lowest clip in six seasons.

After a few months away, Musgrove will try to recapture his 2021-23 form. The San Diego-area native combined for a 3.05 ERA across 459 2/3 innings over his first three seasons with his hometown club. While Musgrove’s 2023 campaign was cut short by a shoulder issue, he looked like a #2 or high-end #3 starter over the preceding two and a half seasons. He steps back into the Friars rotation as they look to at least hang onto a Wild Card spot. They currently occupy the second NL Wild Card spot and are four games clear of the #6 seed Braves. San Diego is tied with the Diamondbacks for second place in the NL West. They’re 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the division.

Musgrove’s return nudges Randy Vásquez out of the rotation. San Diego already optioned Vásquez last week with the knowledge that their All-Star righty would get the ball tonight. Musgrove slots behind Dylan Cease and Michael King and in front of Matt Waldron and Martín Pérez in the starting five. The Padres have been without Yu Darvish for five weeks as he attends to a family matter. Dennis Lin of the Athletic reported this afternoon that Darvish set up a live batting practice session at a local high school over the weekend. It’s still not clear whether he’ll be able to return this season, but the veteran righty is keeping his arm in shape in case he can get back.

Edwards was just selected onto the MLB roster late last week. He pitched once and failed to retire any of three batters faced. The 32-year-old righty has otherwise spent this season in Triple-A. Splitting his time between the Cubs and Padres organizations, he owns a 3.30 ERA across 46 1/3 frames in the minors. His 22.2% strikeout rate and lofty 14.3% walk percentage aren’t great, though, so he hasn’t gotten much of an MLB opportunity this year.

San Diego will put Edwards on waivers in the next couple days. He has more than enough service time to decline a minor league assignment if he goes unclaimed, though he’d likely be limited to minor league offers if he elects free agency.

Padres Place Yu Darvish On Restricted List

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The Padres have placed right-hander Yu Darvish on the restricted list, as manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union Tribune) this evening. Shildt noted that Darvish is stepping away from the team while he deals with “a personal matter involving his family.” The issue does not have to do with anything physical, and Shildt did not comment on the veteran’s timeline for return to the club.

Players on the restricted list do not count against their club’s 40-man roster and collect neither their salary nor MLB service time, meaning that Darvish will forfeit a pro-rated amount of his $16MM salary for the 2024 season for the length of his absence from the team. The right-hander last appeared in a game for the Padres on May 29 and was placed on the injured list due to a left groin strain shortly thereafter. Reporting in late June indicated that the veteran was nearing a return from the injured list but had been slowed by a bout of inflammation in his right elbow. According to MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Darvish had subsequently resumed playing catch as he worked his way back toward the big league mound but will now seemingly step away from the team for an indefinite period.

Darvish, 38 in August, is a five-time All Star and veteran of 12 MLB seasons. The righty joined the Padres during the 2020-21 offseason after the club acquired him from the Cubs alongside catcher Victor Caratini in exchange for right-hander Zach Davies and a package of four prospects. At the time, Darvish was coming off a dominant 2020 campaign that earned him a second-place finish in NL Cy Young award voting that year. While the righty’s work in San Diego hasn’t quite measured up to the incredible 2.01 ERA (224 ERA+) and 2.23 FIP he posted in 76 innings during the 60-game season, he’s nonetheless been a reliable presence at the front of the Padres rotation.

In 95 starts for the club, Darvish has posted a solid 3.80 ERA with an even stronger 3.69 FIP and an impressive 26.2% strikeout rate. That work impressed Padres brass enough that they opted to extend Darvish with a five-year, $90MM contract that began this season and will run through the 2028 campaign. The surprising commitment was looking good through 11 starts this year, as Darvish had dominated to the tune of a 3.20 ERA (126 ERA+) and a 3.51 FIP in 56 1/3 innings before he was placed on the IL at the start of June.

The news is a blow to the Padres’ rotation depth, as the club has relied in recent weeks on the likes of Randy Vasquez, Matt Waldron, and Adam Mazur to round out the club’s rotation behind Dylan Cease and Michael King amid injuries to Darvish and fellow veteran righty Joe Musgrove. With Musgrove expected to remain out until at least August due to a bone spur in his elbow that’s caused inflammation and now Darvish out indefinitely, the news serves to highlight San Diego’s rotation needs ahead of the trade deadline later this month.

The club’s 49-43 record puts them comfortably in the second of three NL Wild Card spots, and their offense ranks fourth in the majors with a wRC+ of 114.  Unfortunately, they’ve been held back by a relatively lackluster rotation that ranks just 19th in the majors with a 4.09 ERA this year. Given the uncertainty surrounding when Musgrove and Darvish will be back in the rotation for the club, it makes plenty of sense for them to explore a rotation market that figures to feature players such as Garrett Crochet, Jack Flaherty, and Cal Quantrill.

Padres Place Fernando Tatis Jr. On Injured List

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Monday marked a busy day on the transaction front for the Padres. San Diego placed star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 22, with a right femoral stress reaction. The Friars also optioned outfielder José Azocar and right-hander Jhony Brito to Triple-A El Paso. Filling the three spots on the active roster: outfielder Bryce Johnson, infielder Eguy Rosario and right-hander Adam Mazur. Johnson was not on the 40-man roster, but the Friars have had a vacancy for weeks.

The Tatis injury is the biggest development. Manager Mike Shildt indicated that Tatis could play through the issue but that it wouldn’t fully heal without rest (X link via Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune). The team isn’t providing a specific return timetable, though they expect it to be longer than the minimal 10 days. It’s not out of the question that Tatis is sidelined through the All-Star Break.

Any absence is a major blow to the San Diego lineup. Tatis has been one of the top outfielders in the National League this year. He’s hitting .279/.354/.468 with 14 home runs across 345 plate appearances. Tatis has trimmed his strikeout rate to a career-low 20.6% clip while making hard contact on a massive 53.4% of batted balls. There’s no easy way to replace that kind of production.

It seems the Pads could roll with a David Peralta/Johnson platoon in right field for the time being. The lefty-swinging Peralta is only hitting .204/.306/.241 over 25 games since being called up last month. Johnson, a switch-hitter, has yet to play in the majors this season. San Diego signed the 28-year-old to a minor league deal in January. The former Giant has reached base at a massive .430 clip over 259 plate appearances with El Paso. Johnson is hitting .301 while drawing walks more than 15% of the time. He has also swiped 18 bases in 20 attempts. Johnson is in the lineup against Patrick Corbin this evening.

Mazur returns to the big leagues just three days after being optioned. (He didn’t need to wait the minimal 15 days because he is technically being recalled to replace the injured Tatis.) In actuality, he’s more directly a replacement for Yu Darvish. San Diego anticipated the right-hander returning from the injured list tomorrow. However, Heilbrunn tweets that Darvish is battling some inflammation in his throwing elbow. While Shildt downplayed the long-term concern, he won’t be ready for MLB action tomorrow.

Darvish has been out since May 30 with a strained left groin. The late revelation of a new elbow concern is suboptimal, though it doesn’t seem the Padres are especially alarmed at this point. The injury will force San Diego to turn back to the 23-year-old Mazur for his fifth big league start. The former second-round pick has allowed 14 runs over his first 17 1/3 innings. Mazur has walked more than 19% of batters faced, a bizarre issue for a pitcher who has shown pristine control in his minor league career.

Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune observed (on X) that Johnson was in the clubhouse prior to the team announcement.

Injury Notes: Luplow, Brown, Darvish

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Outfielder Jordan Luplow, who signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in March, is done for the year with a right knee ACL tear. The account @Kram207 was among those to relay the info on X.

Luplow has mostly been a small-side platoon guy in his career, as the right-handed hitter has a line of .227/.338/.495 against lefties over several seasons. This year, he had stepped to the plate 254 times at the Triple-A level with a line of .255/.343/.450. His splits were closer to even with the IronPigs, though in a small sample of 184 plate appearances against righties and 70 against lefties.

Perhaps there would have been a path to playing time in the Philadelphia outfield. Johan Rojas struggled enough to get optioned down to the minors. Brandon Marsh and David Dahl are lefties with notable platoon splits. The right-handed counterparts in their platoons are Whit Merrifield and Cristian Pache, who are both struggling.

With this season-ending injury for Luplow, that won’t be an option for the Phils to even consider anymore. Perhaps Edmundo Sosa will be a factor on the grass, since he has a bit of experience out there and played well while Trea Turner was on the IL. The Phils don’t have a lot of holes heading into the July 30 trade deadline but adding an intriguing righty bat to the bench could be one target, especially with Luplow no longer there as a depth option.

Some other notable injury updates from around baseball…

  • The Cubs placed right-hander Ben Brown on the injured list a couple of weeks ago with a neck strain, though subsequent reporting provided the more ominous-sounding diagnosis of a stress reaction in his neck. The timeline was and is murky, but Brown was able to throw from 90 feet recently, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. Brown says that he was told at the time of his diagnosis that he’s already through the worst of his ailment. Montemurro describes the prognosis as a “two- to three-month burnout period,” with the first month being the worst. Brown and Jordan Wicks hit the IL within a week of each other, thinning the Cubs rotation and forcing Kyle Hendricks back into a starting role. The club is 37-41 but that still has them two games out of a playoff spot in the weak NL race. The club will try to ramp Brown up from here as long as there are no symptoms and hopefully get him back into the mix as his body allows. He has a 3.58 ERA on the year through 55 1/3 innings.
  • The Padres are another club in that NL race with some rotation injuries but Yu Darvish will be back tomorrow, with AJ Cassavell of MLB.com relaying the word from manager Mike Shildt on X. Darvish had made 11 starts with a 3.20 ERA before landing on the IL with a left groin strain. He and Joe Musgrove landed on the shelf at the same time, forcing the club to use less experienced hurlers like Randy Vásquez and Adam Mazur. With Mazur posting an ERA of 7.10 in his first four starts and getting optioned recently, the return of Darvish should give the San Diego rotation a boost. The Friars are 41-41 and currently holding the final Wild Card spot in the National League, but there are seven clubs within three games of them.

Padres Place Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove On 15-Day Injured List

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1:18PM: The Padres have announced that both Musgrove and Darvish have placed on the 15-day IL.  Musgrove’s injury has been termed as right elbow inflammation and his placement date is retroactive to May 29, while Darvish has a left groin strain and a May 30 retroactive placement date.  Vasquez and Logan Gillaspie have been called up from Triple-A.

Darvish lasted only three innings before his hamstring forced him out of his start against Miami last Wednesday, though the injury has now been diagnosed as a groin problem.  This could be a new injury stemming from the initial issue, or simply a clearer diagnosis after a couple of days of testing.  The Padres listed Darvish day-to-day at first, so it seems possible that Darvish might be back after only 15 days if the injury is somewhat minor in nature.

12:30PM: Joe Musgrove has been scratched from his scheduled start today and will instead be placed on the Padres’ 15-day injured list.  According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (X link), Musgrove is again suffering from the triceps tendinitis that already sent him to the IL at the start of May.  Right-hander Randy Vasquez was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to take Musgrove’s spot on the active roster and to start today’s game against the Royals.

Somewhat ominously, Acee wrote that Musgrove’s triceps issue “is not believed at this time to be a season-ending injury.”  While this is positive news at the moment, the fact that there’s enough uncertainty over this lingering injury that an early end to Musgrove’s 2024 campaign is even a possibility is certainly not a good sign.  Even if no structural damage is found, even relatively minor cases of inflammation or tendinitis can lead to lengthy layoffs, if a pitcher simply continues to feel discomfort when throwing.

Musgrove looked pretty good in the two starts since returning from the first IL trip, posting a 2.16 ERA over 8 1/3 frames.  After laboring through three innings in his first outing on May 21, he looked much sharper on May 26 when tossing 5 1/3 shutout innings against the powerful Yankees lineup in a 5-2 Padres victory.  Considering how Musgrove had a 6.37 ERA in his 41 innings prior to that initial IL visit, it seemed as though he was over his triceps problems and back in his normal form as a frontline member of San Diego’s pitching staff.

Vasquez is a logical fill-in candidate while Musgrove is out, yet Vasquez doesn’t have much big league experience, and his 5.82 ERA over 21 2/3 innings this season indicates that he might not be an ideal choice as a longer-term rotation patch if Musgrove has to miss a significant amount of time.  Even beyond Musgrove, Yu Darvish is also dealing with a hamstring injury that forced him out of his last start, and it isn’t yet known if Darvish will be able to make his next start or if he might also need to visit the 15-day IL.

The Padres’ next off-day isn’t until June 13, plus the rotation has some depth question even with Darvish and Musgrove both healthy.  Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Matt Waldron have settled into rotation roles, and that trio plus Darvish, Musgrove, and Vasquez have accounted for all of the Padres’ starts this season.  Ryan Carpenter or Jackson Wolf could be the top Triple-A depth options, though even accounting for the Pacific Coast League’s hitter-friendly bent, Carpenter’s 8.74 ERA and Wolf’s 6.69 ERA are cause for concern.  (Vasquez also has a 7.45 ERA in 19 1/3 innings for El Paso.)

Padres Place Yu Darvish On Injured List

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The Padres announced Wednesday that they’ve placed righty Yu Darvish on the 15-day injured list due to a tightness in his neck and recalled right-handed reliever Logan Gillaspie from Triple-A El Paso in his place. Darvish’s IL placement is retroactive to April 15.

Darvish had been slated to take the ball for San Diego on Saturday but will now be sidelined until at least April 30. The team hasn’t provided further details on the injury or given a timetable for the length of his expected absence. The Friars also haven’t listed a replacement starter for Saturday yet, though they have an off-day tomorrow which could allow them to move everyone else up a day for the time being without starting someone on short rest.

In five starts this season, the veteran Darvish has pitched 23 2/3 innings and notched a 4.18 ERA. He’s sitting on an uncharacteristically low strikeout rate (21.9%) and high walk rate (9.9%). Darvish’s most recent start against the Dodgers, wherein he yielded three runs and fanned just two in five innings, saw his average fastball drop more than a mile per hour relative to his season debut.

With Darvish shelved  for a yet-to-be-determined period of time, the Padres will lean even more heavily on the trio of Joe Musgrove, Dylan Cease and Michael King. Twenty-seven-year-old knuckleballer Matt Waldron has pitched well through three starts but comes with minimal track record in the big leagues. Other rotation options on the 40-man roster include righties Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez in addition to lefties Jackson Wolf and Jay Groome. Brito is already on the big league roster in a long-relief capacity. Groome has yet to pitch more than two innings in a Triple-A appearance this season. Both Wolf and Vasquez have been hit quite hard in their first looks of the ’24 season in El Paso.

The 37-year-old Darvish is in the second season of a six-year, $108MM contract that runs through his age-41 season. That deal, which promised Darvish five years and an additional $90MM on top of the final $18MM he was owed under his prior contract, was engineered in many ways as a means of tamping down his luxury tax hit. The $90MM in new money was closer to what one might’ve expected for a then-36-year-old Darvish over a three-year term. He’d finished eighth in Cy Young balloting a season prior, rattling off 194 2/3 innings of 3.10 ERA ball. The Padres instead stretched what looked like three-year money out over an additional five years, weighing down the annual value and lessening the contract’s luxury hit in the process.

Padres Shut Down Yu Darvish For Season

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The Padres are shutting down Yu Darvish for the rest of the season, skipper Bob Melvin told reporters (including Dennis Lin of the Athletic). Testing revealed an olecranon stress reaction in the veteran righty’s throwing elbow.

Darvish has been on the injured list since August 26. The issue was first diagnosed as inflammation. The stress reaction is more serious, though it’s expected that Darvish will be able to rehab the injury without surgery. There’s little reason for the Friars to take chances with any notable player now that their playoff hopes are dashed.

The 37-year-old Darvish is a key rotation member beyond this season. Last winter, San Diego signed him to an extension which tacked on five years and $90MM in new money. It’s a bold investment that runs through the pitcher’s age-41 campaign.

While Darvish was coming off a 3.10 ERA showing last season, he didn’t replicate that production in 2023. He concludes his year with a 4.56 ERA across 24 starts and 136 1/3 innings. His underlying marks didn’t have the same level of decline, however. Darvish’s fastball velocity still sat just under 95 MPH on average. His strikeout rate dropped just one percentage point from 25.6% to 24.6%, while he lost less than one point on his swinging strike percentage. He issued a few more walks and allowed a bit more hard contact, but his profile beyond the ERA doesn’t look all that different from prior seasons.

It’s crucial for the Padres that Darvish perform at a mid-rotation or better level next year. The Friars have plenty of uncertainty in the starting staff. Blake Snell is headed to free agency. Seth Lugo is almost certain to join him by declining a $7.5MM player option. Each of Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez (the latter of whom has again worked almost exclusively in relief anyways) have complex options on their contracts but could potentially hit free agency themselves.

Darvish and Joe Musgrove — who is also on the injured list and might not return this season — are the only pitchers assured of spots in next year’s rotation. The upcoming free agent class is deep in starting pitching, so president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and his staff figure to add two or more arms from the open market.

Padres Place Yu Darvish On Injured List

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Aug. 29: Via Acee, Darvish said after last night’s game that he was awaiting results from an MRI but is optimistic that he’ll be able to return to the Padres in 2023.

Aug. 28: The Padres announced that right-hander Yu Darvish has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 26, due to right elbow inflammation. Righty Matt Waldron was recalled in a corresponding move.

At this point, it’s unclear what kind of absence the club is expecting from Darvish. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the righty had spoken of fatigue after his start on Friday, though there hasn’t been any kind of firm update from the team. Even if the issue is minor, the calendar figures to be a factor, with just over a month remaining on the schedule.

It’s been a frustrating season for both Darvish and the Padres, with the overall results misaligned with the underlying numbers in both cases. For Darvish as an individual, he has a 4.56 earned run average on the year, a big jump from last year’s 3.10 figure. But his 24.6% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate are both above league average. However, his .319 batting average on balls in play and 71.3% strand rate are both significantly less fortunate than last year’s marks of .250 and and 78.2%. His rate of fly balls leaving the yard also jumped from 9.6% to 13.5%.

His 4.04 FIP suggests he’s been better than his ERA might indicate, but that’s likely little comfort to him or the Padres, as the whole club has been undercut by a similar discrepancy this year. Their +53 run differential is the fifth-best in the National League, and yet they have a record of 61-70 that places them eight games out of a playoff spot, well behind several clubs with far worse run differentials.

It’s not the season that was hoped for in San Diego, as they spent aggressively this offseason to try to build off a strong 2022 campaign that saw them reach the NLCS. Part of that aggressive spending was giving Darvish a six-year, $108MM extension that runs through 2028, which will be his age-41 season. Though the Friars were likely aware that could hurt them in the long run, they wanted to lock him up while he was still throwing well and the club’s competitive window seemed to be wide open.

There’s still some time for the club to salvage the season but the odds are against them, with FanGraphs giving them just a 2.5% chance of cracking the playoffs at this point. Despite a somewhat down season from Darvish, losing him to the IL for the next couple of weeks isn’t ideal, as Joe Musgrove is already on the IL and could be shut down if the club doesn’t get back in the race. Since Darvish won’t be eligible to return until mid-September, perhaps the same is true of him, though that’s not clear at this point.

For now, the Padres will proceed with a rotation of Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Pedro Avila, with one opening available. Rich Hill’s last appearance was out of the bullpen but perhaps he will be slotted back into the rotation. Waldron has been starting in the minors and could be another option and the same goes for Jay Groome, who is on the 40-man.

Looking to the long-term, a bounceback from Darvish next year will be key for the Padres, as there’s plenty of uncertainty in their rotation. Snell and Hill are set to become free agents while Lugo and Wacha both have contract options that could lead to them hitting the open market as well. That leaves Musgrove and Darvish the two building blocks with three potential openings.

West Notes: Astros, Rodgers, Padres

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The Astros have seen a great deal of upheaval in their rotation throughout the season, as established hurlers like Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy, and Lance McCullers Jr. have spent much of the season on the injured list while up and comers like Hunter Brown and J.P. France have taken up roles in the rotation. In the midst of all that turmoil, left-hander Framber Valdez and right-hander Cristian Javier have stood as fixtures at the top of Houston’s rotation.

That figures to change in the coming days, however, as the club has scratched Valdez from his planned start against the Rangers tomorrow. Manager Dusty Baker indicated to reporters, including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle, that Valdez had been battling with a sprained ankle since June 20 against the Mets, and the injury worsened during his last start against the Cardinals. Right-hander Shawn Dubin figures to take the ball in Valdez’s stead tomorrow, though his 10.80 ERA in five innings this season doesn’t exactly measure up to Valdez’s Cy Young-caliber performance this season.

Per Kawahara, Baker noted that Javier is still expected to make his start on Monday “as of right now” despite the fact that the right-hander is “scuffling a bit,” as indicated by his uncharacteristically lackluster 5.79 ERA in June. Chandler Rome and Eno Sarris of The Athletic suggest the Astros could push Javier’s next start back by calling up right-hander Brandon Bielak, who was scratched from his start at the Triple-A level today.

More from around MLB’s West divisions:

  • The Rockies may welcome back second baseman Brendan Rodgers from surgery before the 2023 campaign comes to an end. Rodgers suffered a torn labrum during spring training that ultimately required surgery, but the 26-year-old infielder has begun to work his way back to the field, per Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. Rodgers took live batting practice for the first time today, ran the bases and took infield practice. Rodgers will report to Arizona for extended spring training after the All Star break, and manager Bud Black indicated to reporters (including Saunders) that Rodgers could return to the Rockies in August or September. That’s fantastic news for the Rockies, who have relied primarily on Harold Castro and Coco Montes at the keystone in Rodgers’ absence.
  • The Padres will be without right-hander Yu Darvish tomorrow, as the veteran hurler was scratched from his start due to a bout of the flu. Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune adds that, per manager Bob Melvin, he may not be able to pitch Monday either. Who will start in Darvish’s stead tomorrow is currently unclear, though the club did recall right-hander Pedro Avila earlier today. Avila has made 13 starts at the Triple-A level this season, posting an 8.49 ERA in 46 2/3 innings of work.

Japanese-Born MLB Player Round Up

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Many star players from NPB have made their way to MLB to take on a new challenge.

Some of them became household names like Ichiro and Hideki Matsui. Some were consistent and solid players for a long period like Hiroki Kuroda and Koji Uehara. Some failed to meet the hype and lofty expectations like Kei Igawa and Kazuo Matsui. Some became fan favorites like Munenori Kawasaki.

The 2021 AL MVP and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani headlines the current batch of Japanese big-league players, and rightfully so. These players are a fascinating group that features exciting rookies, experienced veterans, and players looking to make their mark in MLB. Their performances go a long way in promoting the globalization of the sport but also provide fans, scouts, and front offices a better baseline for evaluating future talent from NPB.

How are their respective seasons going? Let’s break it down.

(All stats as of 6/11/2023)

Shohei Ohtani

Big surprise, Ohtani is once again among the frontrunners in the AL MVP race with his one-of-a-kind value as a two-way player. At the plate, he is hitting .291/.362/.593 with 50 RBI and an AL-leading 20 homers.

He had a hot start on the mound to start the season, with a 0.64 ERA and a .093 opponent batting average in his first five starts. Since his last start in April against the A’s, Ohtani has really struggled with the long ball. All 11 homers allowed on the season have come since that start.

On the season, Ohtani has a 3.32 ERA in 13 starts, with a 33.3 K% in 76 innings pitched. He has been plagued by shaky control in some starts, and his walk rate is up to 11.1% compared to 6.7% last season.

You can find Ohtani updates, including reports of every start, endorsement deals, and hot stove news on his player page on MLBTR, or shoheiohtanirumors.com.

Kodai Senga

The Mets signed the 30-year-old right-hander to a five-year, $75MM deal last December. Senga was immediately thrown into the fire in the early weeks of the season as the anchor of a depleted Mets rotation that was impacted by injuries to Justin Verlander and Carlos Carrasco and Max Scherzer’s suspension.

So far, Senga has answered the call and shown the talent that made him one of the most coveted starting pitchers in the 2022 offseason. Senga has a 3.34 ERA in 12 starts and 64 ⅔ innings pitched this season. He had a 4.15 ERA in his first five starts, but he has maintained a 2.79 ERA in his last seven. He is striking out hitters at a strong 28.3% rate, but walking hitters at a 14.3% clip.

Senga’s notorious ‘Ghost Fork’ splitter, which made him a household name in Japan, is no fluke. Hitters are only hitting .108 against the forkball and whiffing at a whopping 59.8% rate, one of the highest in MLB.

The next step in Senga’s transition to MLB is building consistency in control that will allow him to be more efficient and pitch deeper into games. In his final season in NPB, Senga walked 8.6% of hitters, so it’s certainly possible.

Masataka Yoshida

The 29-year-old outfielder signed a five-year, $90MM deal with the Red Sox after seven highly productive seasons in Japan for the Orix Buffaloes. The hefty price tag surprised many, given the questions of his slight frame at 5’8″ and power numbers in NPB traditionally not translating well to the big leagues. The ‘Macho Man’ has rewarded the organization’s faith with his patient and disciplined approach, bat-to-ball skills, and sharp swing. Yoshida is now one of the frontrunners in the AL Rookie of the Year race with his borderline All-Star-level production at the plate.

Yoshida is hitting .300/.375/.467 with seven homers, 33 RBI, and a 132 wRC+. After overcoming a nightmarish start (.189/.317/.264 in first 53 at-bats) to his MLB career, he’s been one of the most consistent bats for the Red Sox. Yoshida joined Ichiro as one of only two players this century to have reached base 85+ times and struck out 25 or fewer times in their first 50 career games.

He turned a corner after working with both Red Sox and Orix Buffaloes coaches and making appropriate adjustments, including lowering his hands. He continues to be proactive with his adjustments. After a rare three-strikeout performance against the Diamondbacks, the Sox coaching staff tweaked his approach and Yoshida responded with a .480/.581/.760 line in the next seven games.

Defensively, there is room for improvement for the outfielder. The Statcast metrics are not favorable, as he ranks in the tenth percentile and 12th percentile in outs above average and outfielder jump, respectively. He should be able to make marginal improvements in that area as he continues to familiarize himself with the Green Monster and the unique outfield at Fenway Park. Could he be making his way to Seattle for the All-Star game in July? We shall see. 

Seiya Suzuki

The 28-year-old outfielder is in the second year of his five-year, $85MM deal with the Cubs.  He was limited to 110 games in his first season by injury, hitting .262/.336/.433 along with 14 homers and 46 RBI. 

After a slow start in April where he hit .254/.333/.373 and just one home run, Suzuki had an excellent month in May, hitting .319/.417/.560 and five homers. On the season, Suzuki is hitting .278/.367/.450 with six homers, 19 RBI, and 124 wRC+ in 50 games. 

So far in his big league career, Suzuki has shown fans glimpses of the five-tool skill set that made him an appealing player in the 2021 offseason but has yet to have his breakout moment.

He has shown excellent plate discipline, walking at a 12.1% rate, and ranks in the 92nd percentile on Statcast chase rate. Despite his plate discipline, Suzuki strikes out quite often, with a 26.1 K%. Suzuki seems to struggle against pitches with movement, hitting just .216 against sinkers and .176 against cutters. Four-seamers with “clean” spin are traditionally more valued over moving pitches in Japan, so it is common for Japanese hitters to struggle with movement since they lack reps. 

Suzuki has been as advertised on the defensive end, recording two outs above average, thanks to a 98th-percentile outfielder jump and 92nd-percentile arm strength. 

Yu Darvish

The right-hander signed a five-year, $90MM contract extension in February, keeping him on the team through 2028. Darvish had a self-proclaimed best season of his career in 2022, tossing 194 2/3 innings with a 3.10 ERA, 25.6 K%, and 4.8 BB%.

He hasn’t been at his absolute best in 2023, with a 4.30 ERA, 26.3 K%, 7.5 BB% in 69 innings, but is still putting up above-average peripheral numbers on Statcast and still featuring a unique eight-pitch mix. If you remove his May 28th start against the Yankees where he got knocked around for seven runs in 2 ⅔ innings, his ERA would be 3.53. 

He reached the 100 wins mark in his last start against the Rockies on June 9, joining Hideo Nomo as the only Japanese MLB pitchers to reach that mark.

Yusei Kikuchi

In his second season as a Blue Jay, Kikuchi is still navigating his way to be a consistently productive starter. The left-hander had his worst season in the majors since his rookie season, largely due to poor control and a questionable pitch mix. 

Coming into 2023, Kikuchi made subtle changes in his delivery and mechanics, while sporting a new beard and swagger. He was off to a solid start, with a 3.00 ERA in April, but had a tough May where he gave up nine home runs and had a 5.83 ERA. On the season, Kikuchi has a 4.34 ERA, 22.7 K%, and 7.4 BB% in 66 ⅓ innings, while giving up an MLB-worst 18 home runs. 

The left-hander is throwing harder than he ever has, with average fastball velocity up to 95.3 mph compared to 92.5 mph his first year in MLB. It hasn’t necessarily translated to a high-quality pitch, however. While Kikuchi is getting whiffs at a 29.7% rate with his fastball, hitters are still getting good contact and hitting .315 against it. 

Although Kikuchi has improved his walk rate by five percentage points from last season, his bad starts are still marked by control issues and giving up the long ball while working behind in the count. The Blue Jays will need every solid performance they can get from Kikuchi in a competitive AL East, especially with Alek Manoah being optioned to the Florida Complex League. 

Kenta Maeda

The 35-year-old Twins right-hander is attempting a full comeback from Tommy John surgery in 2021. The veteran has faced several setbacks in his recovery. He took a 111.6 mph liner off his left foot against the Red Sox on April 20. In his next start against the Yankees, Maeda gave up a career-worst 10 runs in three innings. He was then placed on the IL with a strained triceps. 

Maeda completed his third rehab start for Triple-A St. Paul on June 10. He tossed four shutout innings and struck out five, and will be returning to the big league team in the coming weeks. “The (velocity) was good, the splitter was good, the slider was good. Everything was good,” said St. Paul manager Toby Gardenhire (link via Dean Spiros of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press).

Shintaro Fujinami

The Athletics signed Fujinami to a one-year, $3MM deal in January, with the A’s front office rolling the dice on Fujinami’s 100 mph fastball and potential plus strikeout stuff, despite control issues.

He opened the season in the rotation but was quickly moved to the bullpen at the end of April after allowing 24 runs in just 15 innings and walking 12 batters. It has been more of the same for the 29-year-old right-hander since moving to the bullpen, with a 11.12 ERA on the season while walking 17% of hitters.

It’s been a struggle for Fujinami to throw strikes to say the least. His 29 total walks is the most in MLB for pitchers under 40 innings thrown. When he does find the strike zone, the 6’6 righty is getting shelled. He has a hard hit percentage of 49%, which ranks in the seventh percentile.

Fujinami has dug himself a deep hole in terms of establishing himself as a big league pitcher, but he’s continuing to get opportunities to prove himself on an A’s pitching staff with minimal depth.

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