Scouting Report, H Kuroda

The 35-year old is in his 3rd year in the United States after coming over from Japan. Rarely walks anyone (2.1 W/9), and rarely lets up HR ( < 1 HR/9), which is a very successful combination. Ground-ball pitcher that doesn't strike out a ton of hitters (6.45 K/9 for his career, which is below league average). He is a very solid middle of the rotation pitcher when healthy (was on the DL last year with an oblique strain for two months, concussion for three weeks, and a herniated disc which caused him to miss the NLDS). He faced the Mets on April 27th and took the loss, going 6 innings, but allowed 2 runs, including a home run to J Bay, which was all Johan needed on that night.


Kuroda uses a high 3/4s delivery, with a pause at the top of his delivery to gather himself/disrupt the hitters timing. He throws 89-92 mph fastballs to both sides of the plate, has two different sliders (one has a tight sharp break, the other is more of a slurve), and uses a split-finger fastball as his strikeout pitch.


This year he's 7-8 in 18 starts (108 1/3 innings), with a 3.74 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. He's increased his strike outs to 7.5 K/9, but has also increased his walks to 2.5 from 1.8. This year he's throwing his slider a career high 36% of his pitches (decreased fastball use to 51%). His swing and miss rate is up to a career high 10.8%. He's lost 4 of his last 5 starts, but his last start versus the Cardinals he threw 6 innings and allowed only 1 run, but got charged with the loss.