As the attention of the international baseball community shifted to Shohei Otani's performance in front of MLB scouts and officials on Aug. 31, another big Asian talent was doing his thing to much less fanfare.

About 500 miles south of Otani's game, the lefty ace for the Saitama Seibu Lions, Yusei Kikuchi, absolutely dominated the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in a two-run, complete-game effort while striking out 11 for his 13th win of the season. He may not have Otani's spotlight, but he's a legitimate prospect with a potential high ceiling in the big leagues.

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Kikuchi, 26, is having an elite 2017 season — 14-6, 2.17 in 23 starts, with 190 strikeouts and 40 walks in 165 2/3 innings pitched. This is his seventh year in NPB and the lefty owns a career 2.80 ERA with a 56-42 record, all with the Lions. His season is no flash in the pan. Kikuchi’s talent has been known since he was a teenager, and he has been in on the radars of major league teams for a long time.

Back in 2009, as an 18-year-old ace of the Hanamashi Higashi — the same school Otani attended — Kikuchi was the top pitching prospect in the nation. Kikuchi attracted scouts from eight MLB teams. If he were to sign with an MLB team then, Kikuchi would have become the first Japanese high schooler to sign without going through the NPB Draft.

It was clear then that Kikuchi had strong desire to come stateside, and MLB interest was quite strong. For example, the Rangers recruited Derek Holland to try to persuade Kikuchi to sign with Texas. In a last-minute decision, Kikuchi chose to stay in Japan and be drafted by an NPB team. As a result, Seibu earned the right to negotiate with him and later signed him.

Kikuchi brilliantly flashed his potential as a 22-year-old in 2013, posting 1.92 ERA in 17 starts with three shutouts, but his season was cut short because of a shoulder injury. He followed up that effort with a decent 2014 campaign (5-11, 3.52), and then was 9-10 with a 2.84 in 2015 and 12-7 with a 2.58 ERA in 2016.

Even though his ERA was solid, he was not efficient. He had relatively high walk rates (5.0, 3.7, 4.2 BB/9 IP from 2014-16, respectively), and he frequently would need 120 or so pitches to get through five innings.

This season, however, has been the one for which Lions fans have been waiting.

They call his 2017 showing “Kakusei," which means breakout. He has become more efficient, which has enabled him to eat more innings and become a reliable power arm. Kikuchi’s resurgence meant a lot more in context because he had to fill the hole left by the team’s former ace, Takayuki Kishi, who signed with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in the offseason.

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As of now, Kikuchi ranks second in wins (14) and first in ERA (2.17) and strikeouts (190) in the Pacific League of NPB. He has drastically lowered his walk rate (2.2 BB/9 IP) while his strikeout rate (10.3 K/9 IP) is well above his career average (7.9 K/9 IP).

Less than a month ago, however, Kikuchi had a dicey moment with the legality of his pitching motion. In the Aug. 24 game vs. Softbank, the umpires deemed Kikuchi was making an illegal double-kicking motion and forced him to change his delivery mid-game. That corrupted Kikuchi’s rhythm and he struggled afterward. He allowed seven earned runs over three innings. While he has bounced back nicely from the incident (two earned runs allowed and 21 strikeouts over 18 innings in his next two starts), he might want to come to the majors as soon as possible if NPB keeps bothering him about his delivery.

Kikuchi features a fastball that has been clocked as high as 98.2 mph, which is an NPB record for a left-handed pitcher. His money pitch, however, is a hard slider that falls off the table. Kikuchi also mixes in a curve and changeup. His delivery features an arm action in which he hides the ball well until the last moment. Hitters have a hard time picking up the release point and recognizing what's coming. Here’s a peek at Kikuchi’s arsenal.

As tantalizing as his talent may be, Kikuchi has dealt with multiple injuries in his career. He did not reach the qualified innings pitched in a season until 2016. Even then, he missed two months with an injury to his right side. In 2010, a year after being drafted, he missed the entire season after experiencing shoulder pain. Also, his 2013 season was shut down prematurely with another bout of shoulder pain. That health history could give MLB teams interested in him pause.

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Kikuchi's desire to pitch in the majors is strong, and his club knows it. The Lions have told him that if he gets double-digit wins in both 2017 and 2018, they will post him after the latter season. If not, he is still on track to be a free agent after the 2019 season. He has already collected 14 wins this season and, as the numbers would indicate, has been a top-flight level starter in NPB.

If Kikuchi repeats this level of performance next year, we could see him in a major league uniform by 2019, which will be his age-28 season. Hypothetically, Kikuchi would be entering the majors as a high-upside pitcher in his prime. Because quality starting pitching is always in demand, one would imagine the Lions would receive a good amount of bids if he is to be posted after 2018.