Los Angeles Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi has become one of the more outspoken Angles in the last year or so. He made no secret of his unhappiness with interim manager Ray Montgomery during the second half of last season, and Kikuchi slammed the Angels weight room as just one example of subpar facilities that often get in the way of performance and development.
Chalk it up to experience, and the 33-year old Kikuchi is continuing to get his message across, albeit in a different way. This time his target isn’t the Halos, though—he’ll be playing in the World Baseball Classic next month, and Kikuchi wants us all to know that his baseball heritage in Japan is as deep, layered and nuanced as that of any US player who’s had a successful MLB career.
To make his point, Kikuchi opened up a baseball school, which is called “King of the Hill” in the Iwate Prefecture, near his high school alma mater, Hanamaki Higashi High School, in Japan. The school does contain a tribute to Kikuchi, but there’s actually a quote that’s been referenced more than once when it comes to why he built it.
“Supporting someone else’s dream is fun. Agree?" said Kikuchi.
Kikuchi’s own dream has been pretty sweet, too. He’s the first left-hander from Japan to reach 1,000 career strikeouts, and he’ll start the season as one of the key pitchers at the top of the Angels rotation.
Kikuchi’s former high school teammate is also having a sweet career as they team up to lead Japan in the WBC. That would be none other than former Angel Shohei Ohtani, who’s done things on a baseball field that no one thought possible before he arrived.
Before Ohtani, though, it was Kikuchi who first brought attention to Hanamaka Higashi. Back in 2009, he led his hight school team to its championship game, and his performance left a lasting impression throughout Japan, according to Ayako Oikawa of MLB.com, who did the writeup on Kikuchi’s accomplishments in his native land.
Iwate was considered a baseball backwater when Kikuchi started his journey, but he’s inspired hundreds of young Japanese players to pursue their baseball dreams. They don’t all make it, of course, but there are now about 100 “industrial leagues” in Japan, and an Angels affiliate in Rocket City is sponsoring a tournament in Alabama that will give Americans a taste of how they play “baseball, Japan style” right before the season starts.