{"id":27444,"date":"2019-12-17T20:25:05","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T01:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=27444"},"modified":"2019-12-17T20:25:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T01:25:05","slug":"toronto-blue-jays-sign-japanese-pitcher-shun-yamaguchi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2019\/12\/17\/toronto-blue-jays-sign-japanese-pitcher-shun-yamaguchi\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays Sign Japanese Pitcher Shun Yamaguchi"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Toronto Blue Jays Sign Japanese Pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=yamagu001shu&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shun Yamaguchi<\/a><\/h1>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/toronto-blue-jays\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> signed Japanese pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=yamagu001shu\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shun Yamaguchi<\/a>. The contract is for two years worth six million dollars. The Blue Jays will also pay a posting fee of 1.2 million dollars to the Yomiuri Giants. The contract is pending Yamaguchi passing a physical.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BlueJays<\/a>\u2019 deal with RHP Shun Yamaguchi is for two years and just over $6M, plus performance bonuses. Pending a physical.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ken_Rosenthal\/status\/1207059072505335812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>The Profile on Shun Yamaguchi<\/h2>\n<p>Shun Yamaguchi was taken in the first round of the 2005 Nippon Professional Baseball draft by the Yokohama BayStars. Yamaguchi played for the BayStars from 2006 through 2016. In 2017 Yamaguchi signed with the Yomiuri Giants. The right-handed throwing Yamaguchi started his career as a relief pitcher. He has been mostly a starting pitcher since 2015.<\/p>\n<p>From 2009 through 2012 Yamaguchi saved 104 games. After a bad 2013 season, Yamaguchi began his transition to being a starting pitcher. In 2016 Yamaguchi started to come into his own as a starting pitcher. He had an 11-5 record with a 3.86 ERA. In 2017 Yamaguchi had only four starts. Yamaguchi was suspended for half the season after being charged with assault on a hospital security guard. He also caused damage to hospital property. Yamaguchi was intoxicated during the incident.<\/p>\n<h2>Yamaguchi&#8217;s Stats<\/h2>\n<p>Yamaguchi had his best season in 2019. He went 16-4 with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.171 WHIP. In 181 innings Yamaguchi struck out 194 batters. Yamaguchi&#8217;s fastball averages 90 MPH. He also has a forkball and a slider.<\/p>\n<p>For his career, Yamaguchi in 14 seasons had a 65-58 record with a 3.33 ERA and a 1.243 WHIP. In 1,093 innings Yamaguchi struck out 1,061 batters. Yamaguchi also has 112 saves. In 90 career starts Yamaguchi had 16 complete games and seven shutouts.<\/p>\n<h2>Blue Jays Outlook<\/h2>\n<p>Despite being a starting pitcher in the last few seasons Yamaguchi might be used out of the bullpen. After signing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roarkta01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tanner Roark<\/a><\/strong> and trading for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=anderch01,anders017cha,anders019cha&amp;search=Chase+Anderson&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chase Anderson<\/a><\/strong> the Blue Jays suddenly have a crowded starting pitching crop. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/shoemma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Shoemaker<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thorntr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trent Thornton<\/a><\/strong> will likely be in the starting rotation. The last spot could go to rookie <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kayan01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Kay<\/a>. <\/strong>Kay was one of the pitchers the Blue Jays got in the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stromma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcus Stroman<\/a><\/strong> trade. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/borucry01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Borucki<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wagueja01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jacob Waguespack<\/a><\/strong> also will be considered.<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Jays have the young offensive talent in place. Now its time to improve the pitching. With a few big-name starting pitchers still available the Blue Jays can make a bold move in signing one. Winning the division is definitely out of reach. But the Blue Jays can make a run in the wild card race if the get consistent pitching.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Chance for Yamaguchi to be No. 5 starter, but <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BlueJays<\/a> believe more likely role might be in bullpen. Split-fingered fastball is his principal weapon, useful against both RH and LH hitters.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ken_Rosenthal\/status\/1207060132338814981?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toronto Blue Jays Sign Japanese Pitcher Shun Yamaguchi The Toronto Blue Jays signed Japanese pitcher Shun Yamaguchi. The contract is for two years worth six million dollars. The Blue Jays will also pay a posting fee of 1.2 million dollars to the Yomiuri Giants. The contract is pending Yamaguchi passing a physical. #BlueJays\u2019 deal with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":653,"featured_media":27449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[3262,36],"class_list":["post-27444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bluejays","tag-shun-yamaguchi","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"modified_by":"Jared Cantatore","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}