Red Sox Look at Another Young Japanese Pitcher

Last year they were able to land Junichi Tazawa and now they are after 18 year old Yusei Kikuchi.  The young Japanese pitcher is thinking about not playing in Japan and becoming a free agent for MLB.  Here’s what NPB Tracker had to say about him:

He does throw hard, during the games I watched his fastball ranged between about 87 – 96 mph…In addition to the heater, Kikuchi mixes in a slider and a curveball. He has good movement on both pitches, needs to work on commanding them.

You can never have too much pitching and Tazawa pitched well in the minors last season so landing Kikuchi could pay off.  It remains to be seen how the dealings with Dice-K have influenced Japanese players opinions of the Red Sox.