Former MLB pitcher Antonius Kaij expected to return to the United States in 2026, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The left-hander pitched the past two seasons for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan.
Kay, 30, was the Mets’ first-round draft pick in 2016. He was traded to the Blue Jays in 2019 as part of the deal that Marcus Stroman to New York. The Long Island native would debut later that year and spend four seasons in Toronto, maxing out at 33 2/3 innings in 2021. He then had brief stints with the Cubs and Mets in 2023, and after the 2023 campaign he spent about two weeks with the Athletics; the A’s claimed him off waivers in late October, but he opted for free agency after they cut him from their 40-man roster in early November. All told, Kay pitched a 5.59 ERA in 85 1/3 big league innings from 2019-23, with a 22.4% strikeout rate and a 12.0% walk rate.
Over the past two years he has seen increasingly better results in Japan. In 2024, Kay posted a 3.42 ERA in 136 2/3 innings for the Bay Stars while striking out 20.2% of batters and walking 9.0%. His home runs allowed of 0.40 per nine innings (HR/9) were especially impressive. Only six Central League pitchers (min. 100 IP) gave up home runs at a slower rate. At the end of the year, Kay helped the BayStars to their first Japan Series victory since 1998, pitching seven scoreless innings and taking the win in Game 4.
His first season with the NPB was undoubtedly a success. That said, it’s worth taking Japan’s lower run scores into account; the average ERA in the Central League in 2024 was 2.88, well below Kay’s 3.42. In 2025, however, his numbers spoke for themselves. He deployed a deep and diverse arsenal to post a 1.74 ERA in 155 innings, reducing his walk rate to 6.8%. The southpaw led all NPB starting pitchers with a strikeout rate of 21.9%, while his ERA ranked second and his 0.46 HR/9 tied for fourth. He wasn’t just solid; he was dominant.
After such a strong season, it makes sense that Kay would want to return to Major League Baseball. He may not have attracted much attention on the open market two years ago, but he’s sure to get more suitors now after proving he could thrive as a starting pitcher against high-level competition.
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