LA Angels could reap benefit of Yusei Kikuchi signing by copying Astros' homework

The one aspect of Yusei Kikuchi's game the Angels will need to fix is....oh wait, they do not need to fix a thing. When the Astros traded for Kikuchi last season, they made some tweaks to his pitch usages that unlocked the left-handed starter. The Angels gave him a 3 year deal worth $63 million because of what he showed down-the-stretch in Houston.

In fairness to Toronto, saying the Astros completely uncorked Kikuchi's potential is a bit of a misnomer -- the Astros traded three of their higher-upside prospects to rent Kikuchi last season for a reason. Kikuchi was one of the lone bright spots for the Blue Jays before he was dealt for Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido, and Will Wagner. Of pitchers who threw at least 35 innings for Toronto last season, Kikuchi led the team in xFIP. The Blue Jays only had three pitchers post an fWAR over 1.1, and Kikuchi was one of them. Kikuchi barely trailed Chris Bassitt's fWAR for the Blue Jays, and Bassitt threw over 50 more innings for them last year.

The Angels do not need to change Yusei Kikuchi's approach whatsoever

That being said, the difference in pitch usage was staggering. The Astros had Kikuchi rip his slider, shelved his curveball, and dialed back his four-seam. They essentially turned him into a two-pitch pitcher, but he balled out nonetheless. Kikuchi led the Astros in xFIP and the team went 9-1 in his 10 starts (they lost Kikuchi's last start of the year). He ended up finishing 9th in the Cy Young voting.

The Astros are incredible at identifying what pitchers need to tweak to unlock their game even more. They have done so time-after-time, and Kikuchi is the latest example (and perhaps the best). What Kikuchi has shown in the past is irrelevant. The 33-year-old is a new pitcher. He used to throw a cutter. That is gone. He did not use to throw a curveball. He does now, and that pitch nudged his changeup from his third most used pitch to his fourth/last. Perhaps he could throw his changeup more, but that adjustment should not even be considered until it is proven necessary (side note: Reid Detmers should seriously consider copying Kikuchi's approach). Looking at his career stats is irrelevant, the Angels gave Kikuchi $21 million AAV for the Houston version of him. Not the Seattle or Toronto version.

The Angels boosted Kikuchi's stock, and the Angels can sit back and let him cook. Now we go.

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