Left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara is seeking to transfer to the majors, and as per a report from Yahoo Sports activities Japan (Japanese language hyperlink), he’ll ask the Chunichi Dragons to make him obtainable to MLB groups by way of the posting system this offseason. The Yakyu Cosmopolitan additionally reported earlier this 12 months that Ogasawara was aiming to pitch for an enormous league group in 2025, and MLB Community’s Jon Morosi reported (by way of X) again in April that Main League scouts had been watching Ogasawara pitch in Japan.
The southpaw celebrates his twenty seventh birthday on Tuesday, and he has appeared with the Dragons in every of the final 9 Nippon Skilled Baseball seasons. Nonetheless, since he’s in need of 9 full years of NPB service time, Ogasawara will should be posted to be able to make the transfer to North American baseball.
To recap the posting system, any group that indicators Ogasawara must pay a separate posting charge to the Dragons that’s contingent on the scale of the contract — the 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the following $25MM and 15% of any {dollars} thereafter. If Ogasawara is posted, Main League groups can have 45 days to succeed in an settlement with the left-hander. If no deal is reached inside that window of time, Ogasawara will return to the Dragons for the 2025 NPB season.
Ogasawara has a 3.66 ERA over 1095 profession innings for the Dragons, and he has tossed no less than 141 1/3 innings in every of the final 4 seasons. In 2024, he had a 2.99 ERA in 141 1/3 frames, with a really spectacular 3.42% stroll charge but in addition solely a 13.87% strikeout charge. Whereas Ogasawara’s management has solely been getting higher throughout his NPB profession, he has by no means been an enormous strikeout pitcher, and this season’s low charge of missed bats will definitely stand out as a possible crimson flag to massive league evaluators.
It stays to be seen how extremely Ogasawara shall be judged by MLB groups, although he’ll be one of many youngest rotation candidates obtainable on this 12 months’s free agent market. With scouts already maintaining a tally of his work for the Dragons, Ogasawara figures to attract some consideration ought to the Dragons determine to publish him.
