Meet The New Guys: Shun Yamaguchi

Shun Yamaguchi is a 32 year old right handed pitcher signed out of Japan in the 2019-2020 offseason. Toronto signed Yamaguchi to a two year $6.35 million deal, but has innings incentives that could push the total value of the contract as high as $9 million, as well as consensual options (can only be sent to the minors if he approves). In Japan he was a starter, but his abilities and durability come into question now as he converts to the MLB, leading to his incentivised deal. He will earn partial bonuses at several different inning totals, but will earn all possible bonuses if he reaches 170.0 innings in each season, which is likely only doable as a full time starter (32 starts, just over 5.0 innings per start). Not a single Toronto Blue Jay hit the 170 innings mark in 2019, so it should be a challenge for the MLB rookie.

In Yamaguchi’s 14 seasons in Japan, he holds a career 3.33 ERA with a 65-58 record, but has been much better as of recently. In 2019 he held a 2.78 ERA while earning a 16-4 win-loss record over 28 total games. However, his most impressive stat from 2019 was his HR/9, which he kept strikingly low at 0.4 over the course of the season. This is extremely significant for Toronto, as Rogers Centre is known as an extremely hitter friendly ballpark where home runs are nothing out of the ordinary. Blue Jays pitchers allowed 228 home runs last year, 134 of which came at home (1.41 hr/game, 1.65 hr/home game), so this is a huge statistic to consider.

In spring training for the Jays, Yamaguchi was penciled in as a starter, although he is likely to end up in a long relief/spot starter role once the season begins. Pitchers from Japan frequently have a hard time adjusting for the first 1-2 months in the league before hitting their groove (ie. Shohei Ohtani), so only time will tell what kind of role can be expected from Yamaguchi, and how beneficial his low risk contract will really be to the team's success.