TORONTO — Members of the Toronto Blue Jays starting rotation have a ritual you’ve probably seen. The group will gather in the bullpen right before each game to watch that day’s pitcher take his warm-up throws and then escort him to the dugout.
Last Wednesday, it was Yariel Rodriguez’s turn to pitch and as he made his slow walk out of the bullpen gate in left field at Rogers Centre, the right-hander was trailed by Yusei Kikuchi, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, and Alek Manoah, who’s rehabbing his surgically repaired elbow in Toronto.
Starting pitchers operate in their own little world and that tends to breed a camaraderie that’s unique from other factions within a major-league roster. Kikuchi, Berrios, Gausman and Manoah have been together since 2022, with Bassitt joining the group the following season and Rodriguez earlier this year.
The Blue Jays hurlers are a tight-knit bunch and as they engaged in their ritual on Wednesday, they did so fully aware that the band was about to break up. Kikuchi, a free agent at the end of the season, would assuredly be traded before the July 30 deadline and the rotation was set to lose one of its heart-and-soul characters.
Bassitt seemed to sense the moment and put his right arm around Kikuchi, bringing him in close while speaking intently to his Japanese teammate. Whatever he said made Kikuchi break out a huge smile.
Five days later, the inevitable happened as Kikuchi was traded to the Houston Astros in exchange for right-hander Jake Bloss, outfielder Joey Loperfido and infielder Will Wagner.
Sportsnet chatted with Kikuchi’s now-former rotation mates to get a sense of what the left-hander means to them. Here are their thoughts in their own words.
Chris Bassitt: He’s an A-plus teammate. A-plus across the board. You can’t get better. You got a problem with Yusei, I think you got to look yourself in the mirror first.
Kevin Gausman: Everybody who plays with Yusei is going to tell you how great of a guy he is and how genuine he is. And the next thing they’re going to tell you is how hard he works.
Jose Berrios: Honestly, I think he’s the one teammate you want to have on any team. Great guy. Hard worker.
Bassitt: I don’t know if I’ve seen anyone put as much time into the craft of pitching that he has.
Alek Manoah: Just really detail oriented. I feel like he has a plan and a purpose for everything that he does. A specific routine for everything.
Gausman: His attention to detail is not even comparable to anyone because there’s just not many guys like him in the league. He really hones in on his craft and he views every part of pitching just as instrumental as the next part. That’s really cool to see.
Manoah: He’s looking at his glove constantly making sure he’s not tipping anything; he works on pickoffs probably more than anybody; he works hard on his pitch designs. And he just really notices his body so well that he’s able to adjust his routine based off how he’s feeling.
Gausman: [He’s an] extremely hard worker to the point where you almost have to slow him down. And that’s one thing I appreciate so much about Yusei. You look at his time here and in his first year [in 2022], he really struggled and got moved to the bullpen. And since then, he’s kind of looked at himself in the mirror and made adjustments for the better.
Manoah: I remember in ’22 he struggled a lot and the biggest thing for him was the mental side of it. He knew he was struggling but he wanted to do so well. Being on a new team, it’s a big deal for him and he wanted to be an impactful player. And obviously he didn’t go that way.
Gausman: It was tough to watch him because he was definitely going through it trying to make mechanical adjustments.
Manoah: You know a guy like that is going to rebound. The way he works and how much he cares, it’s a matter of time for him to figure it out. You just knew he was going to go into that off-season and figure everything out and he did. He put on some strength, some weight, cleaned up his mechanics. I think it was a crazy off-season — it just led into him being who he is now.
Bassitt: He’s genuinely super funny. Everyone thinks he’s very reserved but he’s actually very outgoing and likes to joke around and spend time with guys.
Berrios: He always wants to be involved and has helped us grow as a group.
Manoah: He took us to a place in Seattle once, it’s called Taneda. Unreal. It’s omakase style and, literally, it felt like we were in Japan. And it was [amazing to see] the way they treated him.
Bassitt: He’s able to take us to places that I would never have really gone. I don’t even think I could have got in there without him.
Berrios: When he knows a good sushi place, he always invites us. We also had a good one in L.A. He always wants to show us his culture and his food.
Gausman: Obviously there’s a little bit of a language barrier, but he speaks a lot more English than I think most people know. And he understands even more than he can speak.
Manoah: He’s got a great sense of humour. There’s a language barrier, so I’d say some things can be funny when he doesn’t understand something. Kind of like when we had that thing in Oakland where he ran into the guy.
Manoah: I remember right after it happened. He looked at me and he’s like, ‘What do I do? Do I stay here? Do I go into the clubhouse? What do I do?’ He was just super nervous. He’s the last person you want that to happen to because he’s going to take it so personal and overthink it. Everybody was just reassuring him like, ‘Kuch it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.’
Gausman: You don’t have many crazy stories about him because he’s not crazy. He just kind of goes about his business. [Laughs].
It’s well known that Kikuchi aims to get 14 hours of sleep the night before he pitches, but a less documented aspect of his routine is his bathroom meditation. According to teammates, before Kikuchi hits the bed he’ll run the hot water in his hotel shower, filling up the bathtub and creating a steamy, sauna-like atmosphere. Kikuchi will then take a seat on the floor and enter a deep meditative state.
While on the road one night last year, that created trouble for the pitcher and one teammate.
Gausman: I forget who it was. I’m gonna say it was Tim Mayza
Manoah: It was Whit Merrifield. He texted our group chat, ‘Hey, who’s in room whatever-whatever? I think something’s leaking into my room.’ Nobody responded. And then, out of nowhere, Kuch responded, ‘I’m so sorry.’ We were all like, ‘What the [expletive] just happened?’ We got to the field the next day and were like, ‘What happened?’ Whit said he called [the front desk] saying, ‘I have a leak in my room.’ They came to his room, they checked it out and then they’re like, ‘Oh, must be the room above.’ They went to the room on top, knocked on the door and Kuch opens it. He’s all wet and he’s like, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.’ And I guess the maintenance guy was like, ‘It’s okay, what happened?’
Gausman: That’s just hilarious.
Manoah: The way I understand it is he’ll turn the water on to fill up, but usually the bathtubs have those little circle things on the side that drain the water [when it gets to a certain height]. I guess this tub didn’t have that so it overflowed and he didn’t know that. So, he’s meditating on the floor in his hotel bathroom and that’s when the people had knocked on the door. Classic Kikuchi story.
Gausman: We’ll always be close friends. I got nothing but a lot of respect for him and the way that he goes about his job. He’s always gonna be a guy who if I see him, I’m going to go give him a hug.
Berrios: We’re close. Our lockers are right next to each other. Obviously, it’s going to be tough for [the team]. But we understand the business side and everything.
Bassitt: With our rotation, we just don’t have a guy here to replace him. His quality of work, taking the mound every five days. We just don’t have that here.
Gausman: We’re missing a really good pitcher, who goes out there every five days, competes his butt off and wants to win every time he takes the mound. Those guys are hard to find. He’s a veteran guy who’s established and knows how to make adjustments in-game. Those guys are hard to find.
Manoah: Anybody that leaves the clubhouse, it would kind of suck. We’re a pretty tight group. But we have joked with him, like, ‘Hey, go get us a couple prospects and then come back in free agency.’