Mariners: Here’s why Yusei Kikuchi should make the 2021 All-Star Game

No Mariners made it into the first round of voting for the All-Star game. This means that it is going to take a while longer before we figure out which Mariner is going to make the trip to Coors Field for the 2021 All-Star game. We won’t have to wait that long to find out about pitchers though, as the rest of the rosters are going to be announced on July 4th. That’s good news, potentially, for Yusei Kikuchi.

After a slow start to the season, Kikuchi wasn’t looking great through his first four starts. He had been tagged for five runs apiece in his third and fourth starts and entered a game against the Astros in Houston with a 5.70 ERA.

He would tease a no-no bid, going 6+ without giving up a hit. It was his best game of the year and a true turnaround point for his season.

Starting in Houston, Yusei Kikuchi showed why he should be an All-Star for the Mariners.

He has made 11 starts since that fourth start and has been a true Ace during that time. You may look at his ERA on the season and see 3.18, and conclude that he has been pretty good this year.

It’s more than that. In those 11 starts, he has an ERA of 2.33, a K rate over 9 per 9, and a WHIP of just 0.9249. Hitters are struggling across the board of Yusei, as the slash line against him is .173/.242/.325. The sole struggle has been homers, as he has given up ten in that time. Imagine if that number was cut in half.

All of this is plenty of reason for Yusei to make it as the Mariners All-Star representative. A big part of this is him holding the increase in velocity that so many people heard about in the offseason. So far in 2021, he is averaging 95.7 on his four-seamer. Knowing that Yusei can bring the heat and touch the high 90’s during games makes the change-up incredibly effective, with opponents batting just .105 against it.

When you look at the change and the four-seamer, you can see his success derives from the massive difference in batting average against. the four-seamer is hit -.106 lower than last year, and the change-up is -.166 less than last year. That’s a full good hitter (.272) when you add them together. His effective change has led to more ground balls as well, with 43.6% of batted balls being topped this season, a career-high.

When the announcement comes out this Sunday showing which pitchers have made the team, Yusei Kikuchi more than deserves to be the Mariners representative. He won’t make it on the team just to satisfy the Mariners requirement, but he will make it on the team because he truly deserves it.