Kikuchi agreed to a contract Monday with the Mariners, Jon Heyman of FancredSports.com reports. Per Jon Morosi of MLB Network, Kikuchi will receive a guaranteed four-year deal.
Following a successful stint in Japan with the Seibu Lions of the Nippon Professional Baseball league, Kikuchi was widely regarded as the top international arm on the market this offseason. He'll project as a mid-rotation arm at the MLB level, with his reliance on an above-average slider and a low-to-mid-90s fastball prompting some talent evaluators to compare him to Patrick Corbin. The financial terms of the 27-year-old's deal aren't yet fully known, but Seattle will have to pay a posting fee to the Lions in addition to covering the four years of his contract.