Prior to today’s game with the Mets, the Angels placed left-hander Yusei Kikuchi on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 30) due to left shoulder inflammation. Left-hander Tayler Saucedo had his contract selected from Triple-A to fill Kikuchi’s 26-man roster spot and fill the open spot on the Halos’ 40-man roster.
An IL trip seemed likely once Kikuchi left his start last Wednesday after just two innings of work. As MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger noted, Kikuchi’s velocity was 1.3mph lower than usual on Wednesday, so it seemed like something wasn’t quite right from the jump when the southpaw took the mound.
Kikuchi underwent an MRI on Friday but Angels general manager Perry Minasian didn’t have any updates on the results when speaking with Bollinger and other reporters. “We’re just waiting on how it progresses. He’s getting looked at and he’ll get looked at again,” Minasian said.
The injury adds to what has already been an uninspiring beginning to Kikuchi’s 2026 season. Over seven starts and 31 innings of work, Kikuchi has a 5.81 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, and 9.9% walk rate, plus other secondary metrics that generally sit only slightly above or below the league average. Kikuchi’s 4.16 SIERA is more reflective of his overall performance, as his actual ERA has been inflated by some bad batted-ball luck (.352 BABIP).
Led by Jose Soriano‘s sterling work, the Los Angeles rotation has been pretty decent this year despite a number of injuries that thinned out the depth chart. Kikuchi joins Grayson Rodriguez, Ryan Johnson, and Alek Manoah on the 15-day IL, leaving Caden Dana as perhaps the likeliest Triple-A candidate to be called up as a replacement starter. Minasian said the team hadn’t yet decided on a replacement, but since Dana last pitched on Thursday, he might line up well for Kikuchi’s spot.
Saucedo was signed to a minor league contract in January, and the lefty is now in line for his first MLB action of the 2026 season. Saucedo has appeared in each of the previous five seasons, and had good numbers out of Seattle’s bullpen in 2023-24 before stumbling to a 7.43 ERA over 13 1/3 innings for the Mariners in 2025. Between the lack of production and a two-month injury absence due to a lat strain, it was essentially a lost year for Saucedo, culminating in a non-tender from the Mariners in November.
A .378 BABIP certainly contributed to Saucedo’s struggles in 2025, particularly since the southpaw is a grounder specialist with a 56.2% career grounder rate. Saucedo has always had so-so control at best, but his okay strikeout ability and his knack for inducing grounders could lead to better results if he gets even average batted-ball luck, like his .298 BABIP from 2023-24.
