This time last year San Diego Padres closer Kirby Yates was in the midst of one of the most successful Major League Baseball seasons ever experienced by a Hawaii-born-and-bred pitcher.

And, now, he spends some time polishing his skills in … CupCheck?

As MLB’s leader in saves in 2019 tries to stay sharp for a hopeful resumption of the pandemic-delayed 2020 baseball season, Yates has also found time to play and promote some CupCheck.

“Whenever I have people over (in Scottsdale, Ariz.) or we go to a friend’s house, (CupCheck) is set up,” Yates said. “I’m definitely playing it.”

What sounds like a precaution a catcher might perform before taking the field is actually a game that is the brainchild of several current and former MLB players who have taken it to market, including Yates and Yasiel Puig. It features two Frisbee-like discs that are tossed between four, 6-foot poles with six attached plastic cups. Points are scored either by throwing the disc between the two polls, knocking cups off the poles or, on defense, by catching the falling cups.

Initially, the players competed among themselves and friends. But four years ago while several of them rented an RV and camped out at a NASCAR event in Phoenix, Yates said they brought the game with them and set it up in the parking lot.

Yates said, “We had a lot of people stop by and ask us what it was. It ended up that a lot of people started playing and we had a lot of mini-tournaments going on with a bunch of strangers. After that, we wondered if we could make it better and kind of pursued it to the point where we now have a fully functional product that we really liked and enjoy.”

They have partnered in fundraising with the Testicular Cancer Society and Yates said sales have shot up as a backyard game to be played during the pandemic.

Like a lot of people, however, Yates, a 33-year old Kauai High graduate, didn’t expect to be spending time in backyard sports right now, especially coming off a milestone season.

Not since 1986, when Sid Fernandez was 16-6 and an All-Star and World Series seventh-game hero for the New York Mets, has a pitcher raised in Hawaii had a season to match or surpass Yates’ 2019 showing.

Yates led MLB in saves, making good on 41 of 44 opportunities, earning selection to the National League All-Star team and picking up votes for the Cy Young Award. His mark of 14.98 strikeouts per nine innings set a Padres record.

Along with a 1.19 earned run average, it earned Yates, who had been arbitration-eligible, a more than doubling of his contract to $7.06 million for 2020. After this season, if there is one, he can become a free agent for 2021.

“At some point, I think we’re going to play again,” Yates said. “I’m back to what was my regular offseason workout. I’m doing everything I can to be ready. The arm feels great, the body feels great. That’s really all you can do right now.”

And, then, there are also those CupCheck skills to be honed. Yates said, “I’m a pretty good thrower, but I’m a juggle master, I need some work on catching (the cups).” Especially, it seems, against Puig. “He’s so athletic, it is almost unfair.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.