Expectations likely weren’t too high for most onlookers when Yoshi Tsutsugo signed with the Pirates last month. Pittsburgh was the third organization of the season for the 29-year-old Tsutsugo — a star with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball who’d struggled since signing a two-year contract with the the Rays. That contract guaranteed Tsutsugo a total of $12MM, but he never found his footing with Tampa Bay.
In 272 plate appearances as a member of the Rays, Tsutsugo batted just .187/.292/.336 with a 28.3 percent strikeout rate. He showed a bit of pop during the shortened 2020 season, at least, slugging eight homers and reaching base enough to register an even 100 wRC+ through 185 plate appearances (in spite of a poor .197 batting average). Things went much worse in 2021, as Tsutsugo went homerless with an increased strikeout rate and decreased walk rate through 85 trips to the plate. The Rays designated him for assignment on May 11.
A trade to the Dodgers didn’t bring about better fortunes. Tsutsugo appeared in only 12 games and went 3-for-25 without an extra-base hit and a dozen strikeouts. Los Angeles outrighted him off the 40-man roster in early July and released 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 looked like the middle-of-the-order bat the Rays hoped to be signing in the first place. It’s a small sample, but Tsutsugo has flat-out mashed for the Bucs. In 117 plate appearances prior to today’s game, he’s turned in a .291/.368/.612 slash with as many home runs (eight) as he tallied in 303 plate appearances between Tampa Bay and Los Angeles.
It’s not just the long ball that’s driving the turnaround, either. Tsutsugo fanned at a 29.4 percent clip between the Rays and Dodgers, but that’s plummeted to 19.7 percent in Pittsburgh. He’s added seven doubles and a triple with the Pirates, too, bringing his extra-base hit total to 16 (just two fewer than his combined mark in his prior two organizations).
Like many other hitters in recent years, Tsutsugo has found some success by beginning to elevate the ball more regularly. His 42.4 percent ground-ball rate during his time between L.A. and Tampa Bay has dropped to just 33.3 percent with his new club. His infield-fly rate has dropped, his line-drive rate has risen a bit, and he’s improved his barrel percentage — even if his overall hard-hit rate has declined.
Defensively, the Pirates have played Tsutsugo in right field and at first base. The results in the outfield haven’t been great, which isn’t a huge surprise. He was billed as primarily a first baseman or left fielder upon coming over from Japan, but the Rays deployed him at both infield corners and in both outfield corners. Colin Moran’s presence and the lack of a designated hitter in the National League has pushed Tsutsugo to the outfield too frequently, but it’s of course possible there will be a designated hitter in the NL next season, which would open some more avenues for Tsutsugo.
This all amounts to little more than a trial run with the Pirates, as Tsutsugo’s initial contract called for him to become a free agent after the 2021 season. That’s still the case, as noted by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last month. One would imagine that a rebuilding team like the Pirates wouldn’t have taken a post-trade deadline look at Tsutsugo in the first place without some interest in retaining him beyond the current season, though. Even if he was viewed as a mere placeholder at the time, his play in Pittsburgh ought to have piqued the front office’s interest moving forward.
Improbable as it might’ve seemed a few weeks ago, they’ll now likely face competition in that regard. After all, this is a hitter who posted a combined .293/.402/.574 batting line with 139 home runs, 116 doubles, five triples, a 15.1 percent walk rate and a 20.4 percent strikeout rate in his final four seasons of NPB action. That includes a huge 2016 season, when Tsutsugo launched a career-high 44 home runs and slashed .322/.430/.680.
Given that Tsutsugo won’t turn 30 until November and is now starting to look a bit closer to that NPB form against Major League competition, it would only stand to reason that other teams would have interest. The expected advent of a universal DH can’t hurt his chances, if it indeed comes to fruition.
It’s possible Tsutsugo will simply prefer to return to Japan, where he’d undoubtedly garner interest from other NPB clubs. However, if he’s intent on carving out a career in the Majors, his late run with the Bucs should create opportunities to do just that — whether it’s back in Pittsburgh or with a fourth organization in three years.
heck of a move for Carrington. I’ll admit I was wrong there.
Its cherington
Rumor is he started using ‘The Speed Hitter’ since joining Pittsburgh
You mean Derek Shelton’s speed hitter? Ha ha. Actually he made some slight adjustments while in AAA with the Dodgers including closing his stance a bit. He can turn on the heat now.
Yeah. Not a shock the Pirates hired someone who had to do call now ads as their manager.
Heat was always his weakness w TB. Couldn’t hit the hard fastball, which is a staple these days. 93mph does not cut it anymore!
If Tsutsugo was a loyal man, he’d realize the pirates were the only ones to give him a chance. And he should honor that with a contract next year, if they offer it, even if the amount is lower than from other teams.
But if he does that; the Pirates will just trade him like they do everyone else who does reasonably well on affordable contract.
Saw this dude play a couple games at TB, he was awful. Sometimes when you trade dance partners, you get a whole new outlook on life.
Since the Rays are paying most of his salary, the Pirates get a small slice of revenge for the Archer trade.
Loyalty and honor work both ways.
lol easy for you to tell a guy to take a lower offer.
Technically, TB, LAD and Pitt gave him a chance.
So you’re saying he must be honorable as opposed to inscrutable?
How quickly can Pittsburgh jettison him off to somewhere else then?
He is a FA as soon as the season ends. He jettisons himself if he chooses too.
Nice to see him rebound. The Pirates haven’t been facing the toughest pitching staffs the last few weeks. I wonder how much that has to do with his hot streak.
He’s done most of his damage against St. Louis 6-16 with 4hr 9 RBI’s and Cincinnati 7-15 with 1hr and 7 RBI’s. You’re probably right he feasting on bad pitching.
The very first sentence.
“Expectations likely weren’t too for most onlookers when Yoshi Tsutsugo signed with the Pirates last month.”
Does this site need an editor/proofreader?
I read the comments to see if anyone picked that up. I should of applied for the new writer position..
“Should of” . Yeah me two.
I’m a better writer then you to.
to funny
you should of been a comedian
Uh.. it’s spelled 2
[x] yes
[ ] no
This site has gone to absolute crap. They just don’t even proofread anymore. Typos in every article. So embarrassing.
I don’t come to this site to read Scott Fritzgerald, Mark Twain or T.S. Eliot. This is baseball, lighten up
Nobody reads Scott Fritzgerald. Everybody has read his cousin, F Scott Fitzgerald, though.
You’re correct. My 5 minutes ran out before I could correct my error. However you proved my point. No one cares about minor typos.
You also forgot the period that comes after the F. (F. Scott Fritzgerald)
Happens to all of us.
You just said F Scott Fitzgerald, what did Scott Fitzgerald do to you?
I think Curly is one of the staff’s burner accounts. I would ask him directly, but he muted me for calling him out before 😉
Curly is shemp in drag on friday nights
At least give them credit for fixing it.
No. @Emerson, it does not.
However: I have dozens of outdoors articles that I have written. & – obviously – those do. You’ve had enough grammar issues with me that I most likely do not need to convince you of the need, uh?
These guys are fine. They’ve plenty of members, clicks, etc. I – however – would actually love some free editing. Not – ya know – on my baseball posts, but certainly in another capacity.
I usually get blasted for pointing out a typo or something about a post.
To be honest, at this point, I’d like to see the Pirates retain Tsutsugo and let him take over the bulk of 1B over Moran until Mason Martin is in the majors. I will admit, I’m not very high on Martin because he has some serious plate discipline concerns, especially with his walk rate and strikeout rates moving in the wrong direction this year. But they’ll probably give him a chance in 2022.
Was wondering what your take was, @mlb1225.
Aa above average LH hitter that can play the corners (dirt & grass) would certainly have some value as a 26th man on a lot of teams. Yanks – for example – could certainly use a player like that.
He looked pretty over matched with the Ray’s.
& although they make personnel mistakes sometimes, it is notable they (& LAD) let him go.
Is there anything you have seen that seems like a sustainable change? I see he’s hitting more fly balls. Is that by design?
Merci.
He’s been a huge flyball hitter with the Pirates this year, but overall this year with the three teams he’s been with his batted ball rates aren’t much different to 2020. I think it’s just a better approach.
Option on the grass is quite the generous statement. He’s a first baseman playing out of position
I don’t even understand why Moran still has a roster spot.
Moran has shown plenty of times he can be a solid hitter, but he’s never put everything together at once. Year after year, he hits RHP very well, but struggles against LHP. If he were limited to a bench/platoon role, only recieving 300-350 PA’s a year, I think he would be pretty good.
He pretty much is a contact hitter against righties who only plays first base. They would trade him if they could probably, but no one would want him. He’s one of those guys who look decent because what is around him is so bad,.
ANOTHER TYPO IN THE VERY FIRST SENTENCE. This blatant lack of care for your work is astounding. This is not a fan blog. FIX YOUR WEBSITE.
Get off the steroids, you’re too wound up.
90% of the posts are on topic about the aforementioned player. Many are offering speculations, and other baseball related posts because they knew what the writer was trying to say. Then there’s you, crying about a typo that has since been fixed.
The only thing that needs fixing is your poor attitude.
If you don’t think that the people in charge of the site care about the crazy amount of typos then you’re beyond delusional. It’s a terrible look for a site who’s literal purpose is to write articles! If I was in charge I’d be ashamed out how drastically the quality has dropped off. Not good.
* whose
Glass houses, stones, etc.
Also, it’s a free site.
I wonder if playing with less pressure of the Pirates made him more comfortable as a player?
I think so. He knew the pressure was off at that point.
Wasn’t Yoshi one of the drivers in Mario Kart?
Don’t quit your day job.
i don’t especially like the dh, but if they are going to use it in the nation league next year, rule on it right after the world series.
Since the grammar police are out in full force on this thread, what exactly is the “nation league”?
No reason Pirates couldn’t sign him to a reasonable two year deal. There is no one making much after this year with Polanco gone.
He was on the Pirates mind
All the time
Tsu-tsu-go
Looks like the next Mike Trout. Rays front office gave up because they knew they couldn’t afford to keep an up-and-coming superstar like him.
More proof that the Rays and Dodgers can’t develop talent to save their life.
-Wander Franco enters the chat-
What do ubthink his contraxtvwill be, 2 yrs 6-7 mil???
Oops , what do you think his contract will be 2yr 6-7 mil total
Might be better at the plate now but man this guy sucks defensively might be the worst fielder in mlb
Have you seen Gary Sanchez play?
He’s a gold glove compared to Yoshi
Spider Tack
Tsut-tsut riot!
Tsut tsut tsut studio
this season, Ben throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Hopefully they pick him up another two/three years. with the last being an reasonably high option with a decent buy out in case this short sample is a mlb fluke the pirates won’t be stuck with a longer term dud.
The advantage to him signing with Pittsburgh is that he should be able to get playing time. If he hits bad enough at Pittsburgh to get benched, he’d be benched most everywhere.
Pirates should sign him back, no question. Not like someone will throw a ton of money at a guy who sucked for 2 good organizations and got hot with a dumpster fire team for 6 weeks. Why even bring him in if they weren’t going to sign him if he played decent? They have Polanco money to spend (at the very least).
Something I don’t agree with is people saying multi year deals for this guy. One year deal at the most. I’m still skeptical personally. If he gets more than one year somewhere else (doubtful), let him walk.
I like baseball.
Baseball hates you