SP - Los Angeles Angels
- Age 34
- Bats: L
- Throws: L
2026 Outlook
- Draft Rank (ECR)
- P #113
- Best / Worst
- #62 / #163
- ADP
- #314
Eligibility
- Yahoo
- SP
- ESPN
- SP
- CBS
- SP
Availability
Yusei Kikuchi remains a reliable but volatile fantasy arm entering 2026, best viewed as a back-end starter in mixed leagues. His 2025 season showed a step back in command (9.6% BB%) and strikeout rate (22.5% K%), eroding some of the gains he made during his strong late-2024 run, even as his workload and durability held up. The underlying batted-ball profile was mostly stable, but a rising walk rate and middling WHIP capped his fantasy ceiling despite near-league-average run prevention. Based on the 2026 projections, Kikuchi profiles as a fantasy faller—still useful for innings and strikeouts, but with limited upside and increased ratio risk compared to prior seasons. He's best deployed as a matchup-dependent SP5 rather than a set-and-forget option.
