The Los Angeles Angels have been evaluating Yusei Kikuchi, and now it looks like he'll be out for a while.
The Los Angeles Angels have had issues throughout their pitching staff so far this year, and one of them involves a starter who’s normally their most reliable hurler. Yusei Kikuchi was pulled from his last start due to shoulder stiffness, and now the Angels are setting a timeline for his return, according to a report from Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.
It took a while for the Angels to figure out what’s going on. Kikuchi had an MRI a week ago, and he decided to get a second opinion before making the call to rehabilitate his shoulder without surgery. The second opinion part of this isn’t surprising at all, given that Kikuchi has been an outspoken critic of the team’s facilities at times.
“He's going to go on no-throw for three or four weeks and then build back up after that,” Suzuki said. “So he's going to rehab it and then build him back up and see where we are.”
Kikuchi’s ERA is currently at 5.81, and his velocity dropped below 95 mph in his last start. He’s been trying different arm slots and angles to help improve his performance, but this may simply be one of those situations where a workhorse starter builds up enough wear and tear to cause problems.
There’s been speculation that the WBC may have been part of the problem as well. Kikuchi ramped up early so he could throw high-leverage innings for Team Japan, and he could be one of many MLB players who’s paying the price for doing too much too soon.
The end result is that more young players will now get tryouts with the Angels, and this could be an ongoing process given how early the Halos season seems to have tanked. Jose Soriano has been outstanding so far, but the Angels are probably going to have to manage his workload better after he complained of neck stiffness a couple of starts go.
Jack Kochanowicz has improved as well, and Walbert Urena has had two strong starts with some serious struggles sandwiched in between. If the Angels can develop something resembling a reliable rotation by the All-Star break, they’d be well positioned going forward for the second half and subsequent seasons.
It’s not the most exciting goal, but it is more realistic given this development with Kikuchi. He’s going to be out for at least a month, and it’s not uncommon for veteran pitchers in his situation to try the rehab route, only to discover that surgery isn’t optional.