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Expectations possible weren’t too excessive for many onlookers when Yoshi Tsutsugo signed with the Pirates final month. Pittsburgh was the third group of the season for the 29-year-old Tsutsugo — a star with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball who’d struggled since signing a two-year contract with the the Rays. That contract assured Tsutsugo a complete of $12M, however he by no means discovered his footing with Tampa Bay.
In 272 plate appearances as a member of the Rays, Tsutsugo batted simply .187/.292/.336 with a 28.3 p.c strikeout fee. He confirmed a little bit of pop through the shortened 2020 season, nevertheless, slugging eight homers and reaching base sufficient to register an excellent 100 wRC+ by means of 185 plate appearances (despite a poor .197 batting common). Issues went a lot worse in 2021, as Tsutsugo went homerless with an elevated strikeout fee and decreased stroll fee by means of 85 journeys to the plate. The Rays designated him for project on Might 11.
A commerce to the Dodgers didn’t result in higher fortunes. Tsutsugo appeared in solely 12 video games and went 3-for-25 with out an extra-base hit and a dozen strikeouts. Los Angeles outrighted him off the 40-man roster in early July and launched him by mid-August.
Enter the Pirates.
Pittsburgh is paying Tsutsugo the prorated league-minimum after signing him on Aug. 15, and since donning the black and gold, he’s quietly regarded just like the middle-of-the-order bat the Rays hoped to be signing within the first place.
It’s a small pattern, however Tsutsugo has flat-out mashed for the Bucs. In 117 plate appearances, he’s turned in a .291/.368/.612 slash with as many dwelling runs (eight) as he tallied in 303 plate appearances between Tampa Bay and Los Angeles.
It’s not simply the lengthy ball that’s driving the turnaround, both. Tsutsugo fanned at a 29.4 p.c clip between the Rays and Dodgers, however that’s plummeted to 19.7 p.c in Pittsburgh. He’s added seven doubles and a triple with the Pirates, too, bringing his extra-base hit complete to 16 (simply two fewer than his mixed mark along with his prior two organizations).
Like many different hitters lately, Tsutsugo has discovered some success by starting to raise the ball extra frequently. His 42.4 p.c ground-ball fee throughout his time between L.A. and Tampa Bay has dropped to simply 33.3 p.c along with his new membership. His infield-fly fee has dropped, his line-drive fee has risen a bit and he’s improved his barrel share — even when his general hard-hit fee has declined.
Defensively, the Pirates have performed Tsutsugo in proper area and at first base. The ends in the outfield haven’t been nice. He was billed as primarily a primary baseman or left fielder upon coming over from Japan, however the Rays deployed him at each infield corners and in each outfield corners. Colin Moran’s presence and the dearth of a chosen hitter within the Nationwide League has pushed Tsutsugo to the outfield too regularly, nevertheless it’s in fact potential there will probably be a chosen hitter within the NL subsequent season, which might open some extra avenues for Tsutsugo.
This all quantities to little greater than a trial run with the Pirates, as Tsutsugo’s preliminary contract referred to as for him to change into a free agent after the 2021 season. That is still the case, as noted by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette final month. One would think about {that a} rebuilding group just like the Pirates wouldn’t have taken a post-trade deadline have a look at Tsutsugo within the first place with out some curiosity in retaining him past the present season, although. Even when he was seen as a mere placeholder on the time, his play in Pittsburgh should have piqued the entrance workplace’s curiosity shifting ahead.
Unbelievable as it would’ve appeared a number of weeks in the past, they’ll now possible face competitors in the event that they want to retain Tsutsugo. In any case, it is a hitter who posted a mixed .293/.402/.574 batting line with 139 dwelling runs, 116 doubles, 5 triples, a 15.1 p.c stroll fee and a 20.4 p.c strikeout fee in his remaining 4 seasons of NPB motion. That features a enormous 2016 season, when Tsutsugo launched a career-high 44 dwelling runs and slashed .322/.430/.680.
Provided that Tsutsugo received’t flip 30 till November and is now beginning to look a bit nearer to that NPB type in opposition to Main League competitors, it might solely stand to purpose that different groups would have curiosity. The anticipated creation of a common DH can’t harm his probabilities, if it certainly involves fruition.
It’s potential Tsutsugo will merely choose to return to Japan, the place he’d undoubtedly garner curiosity from different NPB golf equipment. Nonetheless, if he’s intent on carving out a profession within the Majors, his late run with the Bucs ought to create alternatives to do exactly that — whether or not it’s in Pittsburgh or with a fourth group in three years.
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