As the constant clicks from array cameras turned into a din filling the media room of what is now called T-Mobile Park, Yusei Kikuchi moved close to the microphone. Wearing an impeccable suit and a striped tie, which he bought the day before and which purposely featured the Mariners colors, Kikuchi introduced himself to the 50-plus media members in the room and the Mariners and baseball fans watching via internet stream in the United States and Japan.
But this introduction would be different from his Japanese predecessors, who came to Major League Baseball in search of playing at baseball's highest level. Like throwing a 3-2 slider with the bases loaded, Kikuchi wasn't going to look to someone else of help. Nope, he was going to do this in English instead of speaking in his native language and relying on the use of an interpreter.
"Hi everyone, my name is Yusei Kikuchi of the Seattle Mariners," he said carefully. "Today is a very special day for my family and I. Thank you to my family and my amazing wife, Rumi, my friends, my high school coach and my mentor, Mr. Sasaki, for supporting me every day. Playing in the big league has been a dream of mine since I was 15 years old. Thank you, Seibu Lions, for letting me go and living my dream.
"Mariners ownership and Mr. Dipoto and Mr. Servais, thank you for this new journey. And to my new teammates, I can't wait to meet you guys soon. Thank you."
It was a stunning and surprising introduction. Few foreign-born players exhibit the sort of comfort and confidence with their nonnative language to do something like that, particularly in their first media session.
Less than 24 hours after the Mariners announced that Kikuchi had signed a four-year contract guaranteed for $56 million and with club options that could push it to seven years and more than $100 million, Kikuchi felt it was important to show his commitment to the transition of playing at the major-league level and to his new team by making his opening statement in English and also answering questions from U.S. media in English. His interpreter, Shawn Novak, relayed the questions to him in Japanese, though it was clear Kikuchi understood much of what was being asked.
Why do it this way?
"I don't know all the details yet," he said of the process. "But I want to practice hard and adjust myself. I want to enjoy every single thing."
As Kikuchi answered questions, general manager Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais beamed at their new acquisition while super agent Scott Boras nodded with approval on the dais.
"I'm fascinated with how he handled that news conference," Dipoto said. "We knew we were getting a very sharp, good mind and a player of high character, but the fact that he sat there and went through this interview process in English is phenomenal in my opinion. He's clearly been working on his English. It was great."
Servais had dinner with Kikuchi on Tuesday evening, and Kikuchi told him of his intentions to do the first part of the news conference in English.
"I'm more impressed with the person," Servais said. "He told me he was going to this in English, and I was like, 'we'll see.' And he did it. I was very impressed. He's got some personality about him. He's a really smart guy and he wants to get better. I think it's a good fit."
Later, when asked by Japanese media about speaking English, he elaborated on the subject more.
"I want to apologize to the English-speaking media for my bad English and the short answers," he said through Novak. "Thank you for bearing with me. Being here on the biggest stage of baseball in the world, it's a global stage and I wanted to ingrain myself with that and be available to everyone and be able to speak to everyone directly. So I worked hard, and that was an important thing for me to do going forward. From high school, when I first had the dream of playing in the big leagues, I wanted to be able to communicate directly and from the heart to the fans over here in English by myself. I made it a goal to speak English by the time I got here. And here I am today."
How he got here today was a combination of the Mariners' plan for his development and adjustment to MLB and a creative contract with Boras.
As part of the process to pitch themselves, the Mariners showcased a development plan for Kikuchi that will help him adjust to the MLB schedule of pitching every five days compared to the every six or seven days in Nippon Professional Baseball. The Mariners want to limit the documented struggles of Japanese pitchers, who seem to deal with injury or severe downturn in production after two years of work. By limiting his usage in the 2019 season, the Mariners hope Kikuchi will be stronger in 2020 and 2021, when the team hopes to be emerging from "step back" mode.
"It was very helpful to sit down and talk about what YK's needs were coming in because that was very to us," Boras said. "There's been a history of Japanese pitchers, who are very, very gifted coming here and being thrust into a situation where the physicality, not the talent of the pitcher, but the physicality and durability of the pitcher has been challenged and often led to surgery. Jerry was just completely to our concern and mindful of it. He came back to us with a developmental plan that was very impressive and something would lead to an acclimation to the major leagues and adjusting from the six-day, seven-day approach in Japan than a five-day approach here."
