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Left-hander Anthony Kay is signing with the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball, reviews Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). It’ll be the primary abroad stint for the CAA consumer.
Kay, 29 in March, is a former first-round decide of the Mets. Traded to the Blue Jays as a prospect within the Marcus Stroman deal, he debuted with Toronto in 2019. That kicked off a stretch of 5 seasons with some quantity of MLB motion. His largest workload got here in 2021, when he logged 33 2/3 innings of 5.61 ERA ball.
The UCONN product remained with the Jays by the 2022 season. He bounced across the league final 12 months, going to a few completely different groups on waivers. Kay opened the season with the Cubs and briefly landed with the Mets at 12 months’s finish. Through the postseason, the A’s claimed him. Oakland minimize him free a pair weeks later with none sport motion, sending him to the open market.
Kay has but to search out a lot MLB success. He owns a 5.59 ERA by 85 1/3 innings, working largely in a protracted aid capability. Middling management has been the first wrongdoer. Kay has walked upwards of 12% of batters confronted in his MLB profession. He handed out free passes at a 13.6% clip throughout his large league work final season and walked a virtually similar 13.7% of opponents over 37 1/3 innings in Triple-A.
Strike-throwing points however, Kay represents an intriguing flier for an NPB crew. His fastball has averaged slightly below 95 MPH throughout his time within the majors. He has an affordable 22.4% strikeout proportion in his large league profession and fanned greater than 31% of opposing hitters in Triple-A a 12 months in the past.
That capacity to overlook bats would’ve enabled Kay to discover a minor league contract if he wished to stay in affiliated ball. The chance in Japan permits him to lock in a wage that’s absolutely above what he’d have made in Triple-A. He’ll take that avenue as an alternative. If he pitches nicely in NPB, he might reemerge as a goal for main league groups a 12 months or two from now.
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