Anthony Kay was supposed to be a staple in a big-league rotation, but injuries, bullpen stints and surgery derailed the former first-rounder’s career before he hit 30. So when the ace pursued an opportunity in Japan, he had one thing in mind: Get back to being a starting pitcher.
Kay, a first-round pick in 2013, had Tommy John surgery in 2016, dealt with a back injury in 2019, was moved to the bullpen by the Toronto Blue Jays during a postseason run in 2020, had a left shoulder injury in 2022 and split time with the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets in 2023.
When the chance came to start fresh in Japan, Kay took it, signing with the Yokohama Bay Stars. Two seasons later, after setting records with Yokohama (1.74 ERA in 155 innings, NPB-leading 57.8 percent groundball rate) and mastering a new pitch that changed everything, he’s finally earned another shot at MLB redemption. Now, Kay is expected to return to MLB, and FanSided spoke with him about his growth in Japan and what he’s hoping his next stint in the majors will look like.
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From first-round promise to fighting for innings
I was talking to Foster Griffin about how even reading a menu was a challenge at first. What was that adjustment like for you?
It was definitely a culture shock being [in Japan]. You can’t speak to any of your teammates because you have to go through a translator. You can’t read any signs. It’s definitely an experience you got to get used to. Once you get used to it, everything is great. They take care of you so well.
Your numbers the past couple seasons have been very, very good. What clicked for you? What changed?
The first year I went over there, I didn’t really change too much. I went with what I know and just pitched and saw how everything went. The first half went really well, but it was my first year as a starter again, so I hit a wall in July and struggled. I wasn’t getting a ton of swings and misses anymore. I was watching a bunch of pitchers on my team wondering, “What can I do differently?” I tried to change things, and I talked to a couple guys. Most of them didn’t throw as hard as me, so it was a little difficult to get what they were working with. But what I came across was this two-seamer.
They have very flat swings over there. Fastballs atop the zone don’t really work too well because they just foul it off and work 10-pitch at-bats every time just to be annoying. They weren’t even trying to put the ball in play. They were just going up there to get the pitch count up. I started working on the two-seam last year and had some success with it. Coming into this year, I was really going to commit to it. Once I started using that as often as my four-seam, that really changed how I pitched and how I attacked some of these hitters.
Even with those guys working up counts, you still managed to throw 155 innings last year.
The two-seamer really changed everything. Every four-seam was getting fouled off, and I just really wasn’t sure what to do at that point. I was watching a lot of these guys flip in some sinkers at 88-90 mph and they were getting ground ball after ground ball. I kept thinking, “I need that.” That changed everything for me.
So the two-seamer is the reason for the high ground ball rate.
Definitely.
What’s in your arsenal?
Two-seamer, four-seamer, cutter, sweeper and change-up. I’ve been working on a curveball, not the best! But we’ve been working on it a bit just trying to flip it in there one percent of the time. It’s not a pitch I’m totally comfortable with throwing at all times.
It keeps hitters off balance. That was a huge thing over there was messing with timing and making sure these guys weren’t fouling stuff off. Just letting them put the ball in play.
You mentioned teammates helping you out before. Who were they?
Our ace Katsuki Azuma, a little lefty. He throws 88 to 90 and a bunch of different pitches and can just dot it everywhere. I was watching him, and I’m thinking that my stuff is harder, my stuff moves more, but he was pitching better than me. I was wondering what I could do that he was doing. I watched how he pitched, living on the corners, everything just moves, and I was not comfortable with doing that. I needed to figure something out. Talking to Andre Jackson, another foreign teammate. We had a lot of conversations and bounced ideas off each other. He helped me out a lot also.
You were a first-round pick and spent time with a few different clubs in the majors. How do you look back on that part of your career?
I was up and down a lot. I was injured a couple years, so I got moved to the bullpen, and I feel like I never really got a true chance to pitch consistently in the big leagues as a starter. A lot of that is because of injury and some of that dealing with the Blue Jays trying to win and wanting their best guys in the big leagues, so I got moved to the bullpen. That’s just how it went. That’s why I went over to Japan. I wanted to get back to consistently being a starter.
How tough was it getting moved to the ‘pen?
That was the first time in my life that I’ve ever been a reliever. It was definitely different. You have to be locked in pretty much every day. That’s not something I was used to or comfortable with at that time. It was definitely a challenge.
What other challenges did you deal with coming out of the bullpen? I’ve obviously never done it.
You see all these guys throwing 98 to 100 mph now. I feel like a lot of times when I was going out there, I wasn’t really pitching. I was just going out there to throw as hard as I could and throw the nastiest pitches that I could. But that’s not who I am. Once I went over to Japan, I was one of the harder throwers in the league. I didn’t have to worry about trying to light up the radar gun because they don’t really care about that. The only thing they care about is getting outs, and it doesn't matter how you get them. So that was huge going over there because it changed my mentality of how I was pitching.
Obviously you’re established as a starter again. But what would you ideally want coming back to the majors?
That would be awesome to be a starter again in the big leagues. I’m not really necessarily set on anything over here. Just seeing what happens and seeing what teams show interest. Whatever happens, happens.