Blue Jays Yusei Kikuchi on his love for Toronto, the Ohtani pursuit and bouncing back (2024)

DUNEDIN, Fla. – Toronto means a lot of things to Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, a growing affinity that goes well beyond being embraced by the fans and some sushi humour tied to the team’s pursuit of superstar Shohei Ohtani.

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In fact, the Japanese lefty and his wife decided to take that fondness a step further by making Toronto home for much of their off-season and enrolled four-year-old son Leo in school at their adopted home.

“The city means a lot not just to me, but to my family,” Yusei Kikuchi said in an interview translated by Yusuke Oshima. “We all enjoy Toronto and the Toronto fans. Putting on the Blue Jays uniform, you get the feeling that you’re representing a whole country, a full nation.

“I’m proud to be a Toronto Blue Jay and happy to be here.”

Undaunted by the winter weather, spending most of his off-season in Canada’s biggest city has allowed him to appreciate it even more. And living there in the winter has historically been a rarity for Jays players.

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With Leo doing the school thing – he’s in kindergarten – Kikuchi and his wife Rumi settled in for a Canadian winter and an opportunity to explore what time rarely allows during the relentless grind of the baseball season.

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“During the season, it’s hard to go out, but spending the off-season in Toronto up until January, pretty much, I was able to learn more about the city and check out different restaurants and stuff,” Kikuchi said. “I trained there as well. It was a good time.

“It’s a safe city. It’s easy to raise a family. My entire family enjoyed it. Walking around the city of Toronto I can really feel the support from people. We definitely feel the love.”

Of course, there was a flashpoint moment in the Kikuchi’s Toronto residency when, by virtue of his nationality as much as anything, he was erroneously attached to the courtship of fellow mega star Ohtani.

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Dragged into the midst of it, “reports” suggested Yusei and Rumi were hosting a party for 50 at a popular downtown sushi restaurant. To his credit, Kikuchi had some fun with it.

“I wanted to make it clear that I did not have a sushi party last Friday,” he posted on his Instagram account. “I can eat sushi for 50+ people but I certainly never had a sushi party with 50+ people!”

The personable Kikuchi can laugh at that moment now and especially at the events of Dec. 8 when the whole world it seemed was duped into believing Ohtani was on a private jet from Cali bound for Toronto.

“Obviously that news caught me by surprise, too,” Kikuchi said. “I woke up in the morning and had a ton of people messaging me and said ‘are you going to take Ohtani out for sushi?’ My wife set the record straight.”

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Naturally, Kikuchi was intrigued at the Jays high-profile chase before ultimately seeing Ohtani land with the Dodgers. He said management did not tap into his background and familiarity with the legend from his homeland.

“Obviously I wanted to play with him,” Ohtani said. “He’s the best player in baseball. Who wouldn’t want to play with somebody like that? But we already have a good squad here. We can win a championship and I feel good about that.”

As for what awaits, the task is clear to Kikuchi: Continue to build on that excellent 2023 season, an admirable recovery from his first with the team.

A year ago, Kikuchi came here with something to prove and made a massive early impression. He followed that with a stellar April and went on to become a key cog in the Jays rotation,, especially after Alek Manoah’s season disintegrated.

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“I worked out and practised a lot in the off-season and it gave me the confidence to be ready for spring training,” Kikuchi said. “As you know, I had a rough year a couple of years ago so I wanted to go right back into training and prepare so I could make a good impression for the entire team and coaching staff.

“That preparation was really key for me.”

Before long, Kikuchi was a big part of what emerged as one of MLB’s best rotations, a status he aims to return to in 2024.

“We’ve talked a lot about last season but that’s over with,” Kikuchi said. “All I can think about is not just making sure I stay in the rotation, but how I can get better and how I can stay healthy.

“We expected better of ourselves last year. We didn’t think that this was a team that would go two and out (in the playoffs. I have up a run in that game and we lost. I wanted to turn that moment into fuel and work hard in the winter and I’m looking forward to the season.”

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