
(Getty)
By far, the biggest baseball news of the entire season was the August 23 announcement of Shohei Ohtani’s right elbow injury, which could necessitate a second Tommy John surgery for the Los Angeles Angels’ two-way megastar.
We won’t rehash the details here. But since it was announced on August 23, Ohtani’s injury, the drama surrounding it, and what effect it will have on his upcoming free agency have dominated the news. It also overshadowed his brilliant performance in August, as well as the solid performances of several other Japanese imports in Major League Baseball.
Let’s begin with Ohtani. As a designated hitter during August, he averaged .316 with five home runs, 14 RBIs, and a 1.004 OPS. He made three pitching starts, including the one against Cincinnati on August 23 that he left after 1.1 innings because of “arm fatigue”. He allowed just six hits and no earned runs during those outings.
For the season, he is 10-5 as a pitcher with a 3.14 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. On the batting side, he finished August with an overall .307 average and MLB-leading figures of 44 home runs, a .661 slugging percentage, and a 1.071 OPS. He also had 95 RBIs, sixth best in MLB, as of August 30.
At this point, the plan is for him to continue hitting, at least until he gets a second opinion on the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. So far, that has worked well, as he was 9-27 from the time of the injury announcement through the end of the month.
Now to the other seven import players.
Yusei Kikuchi
Kikuchi has had bouts of inconsistency this season but has now had three consecutive solid months for the Toronto Blue Jays after going 1-1 with a 3.03 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in August. Plus, he walked just five batters in 29.2 innings.
Following a very good April performance, he fell off in May with a 5.83 ERA and a bloated 1.67 WHIP. However, he rebounded very well in June and followed that with a 1-1 mark and 3.91 ERA in July.
In his first four seasons in MLB – three with Seattle and one with Toronto – Kikuchi had not been able to harness his elite stuff, posting a 5.02 ERA. By the end of August, however, he was 9-4 with a 3.63 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, the latter significantly lower than his career mark of 1.38. In addition, he has an average walk rate of 2.46 per nine innings, compared to his career mark of 3.39 and last season’s bloated 5.19. In short, he has been better than expected.
In mid-July, it was speculated that Kikuchi would assume more of a swingman role when the Blue Jays’ rotation returned to full health. However, all his appearances thus far have been as a starter.
Seiya Suzuki
For much of his second season in MLB with the Chicago Cubs, Suzuki has not had the success he or the team had hoped for, but August may have signaled a breakthrough, as he hit .321 with a 1.006 OPS and had eight multi-hit games. This, despite going 0-10 on his last three games of the month.
Suzuki had averaged .319 in May while hitting five home runs and driving in 13 runs, but he hit just .254 in April, .177 in June, and .240 in July. He had shown occasional flashes, such as a four-hit effort and a couple of three-hit games in July, but hadn’t been able to sustain success.
After his four-hit game on July 18, Cubs manager David Ross said. “He’s got one of the best swings in the league. When you watch him, the consistency with that timing, when it’s there, he feels really good. Hopefully he can build off today.”
However, Suzuki batted just .191 between then and the end of the month. Between June 15 and August 7, he posted a .207/.268/.307 slash line in 150 at-bats. Since then, though, he’s been on a tear, averaging .362 to raise his season mark to .263, with 13 home runs, 48 RBI, and a .768 OPS.
Kodai Senga
Senga has been another with inconsistent performances, but he has proven in his first MLB season to be a valuable performer and a bright spot in what has been a very disappointing season for the New York Mets.
July was his best month by far, as he posted a 1.93 earned-run average, allowed just 13 hits in 23.1 innings, and posted a WHIP and batting average against of just 0.87 and .165, respectively. He followed that with a solid August, in which he was 3-2 with a 3.16 earned-run mark and 34 strikeouts in 31.1 innings.
During much of the season, he has had problems with his command and with ge