Toronto Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi is not a doctor, but he thinks he knows what caused the cramps that knocked him out after five innings of work Tuesday against the New York Yankees.
According to The Athletic‘s Kaitlyn McGrath, Kikuchi expects to be fine for his next start. He blamed the cramps on the fact he only got 11 hours of sleep Monday night.
That’s right, only 11 hours of sleep. That might sound like a lot of sleep for most people. Yet Kikuchi went on to reveal he usually gets 13 or 14 hours of sleep (in case you’re wondering, Kikuchi is not a teenager. He’s 32).
To show her incredulity, because most people would find this revelation unbelievable, McGrath inserted a few exclamation points in her X (formerly Twitter) post to make everything clear.
McGrath dug a little deeper and found that Kikuchi is usually in bed by 11 p.m. (he must hate extra-inning games) and sleeps until 1 p.m. the next day.
Of course, because we are talking about the Blue Jays, and Kikuchi hails from Japan, and he had cramps, his revelation quickly brought to mind another Japanese Blue Jays player talking about cramps. Infielder Munenori Kawasaki’s 2014 interview about bananas, monkeys, and cramps will live forever in baseball lore.
By the way, Kikuchi ran his record to 10-6 in the 7-1 victory over the Yankees.
The baseball world postponed their own sleep Tuesday night to weigh in on Kikuchi’s unusual sleep schedule.
I’m just asking because this is a remarkable statement that’s now making the rounds on social media: is there any chance that something got lost in translation? Because those are “I have mono” type sleep hours.
— Emily Kathryn (@emmykn) September 20, 2023
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.