The Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball introduced final evening that they’ve made right-hander Koyo Aoyagi accessible to main league groups through the posting system. Jon Morosi of the MLB Community tweets that MLB has authorized the posting, which opens a 45-day window for the pitcher to signal with a giant league group.
Aoyagi, who turns 31 subsequent week, appears to challenge as a depth arm. Whereas he has labored as a beginning pitcher for the Tigers, Aoyagi throws from a sidearm slot that’s extra generally discovered within the bullpen. He’s coming off a pedestrian season which he break up virtually evenly between the Tigers and their minor league affiliate. Aoyagi made 12 begins at Japan’s prime degree and pitched 11 instances within the minors.
Throughout his work on the highest degree, he turned in a 3.69 ERA throughout 61 innings. His 13% strikeout fee could be almost 10 proportion factors beneath the MLB common. He confirmed first rate however not distinctive management, strolling 7.8% of batters confronted. His profession observe report is a little more spectacular. He owns a 3.08 ERA with a 17.1% strikeout proportion throughout 9 NPB campaigns. This was his second consecutive middling season, although. Aoyagi was tagged for a 4.57 ERA throughout 100 1/3 innings for the Tigers in 2023.
The 5’11” hurler pitched for Japan on the 2020 Olympics (held in Tokyo a yr late on account of the pandemic). Japan went 5-0 and gained the gold medal, although Aoyagi was tagged for 5 runs in 1 2/3 innings throughout two appearances. He didn’t make the nation’s World Baseball Traditional roster two years later.
Assuming the posting window formally opened immediately, Aoyagi could have till January 17 to signal with an MLB group. If he doesn’t discover a proposal to his liking, he’d stay with the Tigers. Aoyagi’s numbers recommend he might be restricted to a minor league deal. If he indicators with an MLB group, that membership would additionally owe a launch charge to the Hanshin Tigers. The charge is proportional to the dimensions of the contract. Within the very seemingly occasion that he indicators for $25MM or much less, the posting charge could be 20% of the assure.
