Left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara is trying 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 through the posting system this offseason. The Yakyu Cosmopolitan additionally reported earlier this yr that Ogasawara was aiming to pitch for an enormous league crew in 2025, and MLB Community’s Jon Morosi reported (through 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. Nevertheless, since he’s in need of 9 full years of NPB service time, Ogasawara will must be posted with a purpose to make the transfer to North American baseball.
To recap the posting system, any crew that indicators Ogasawara must pay a separate posting charge to the Dragons that’s contingent on the dimensions 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 at the very least 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 additionally 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 purple flag to large league evaluators.
It stays to be seen how extremely Ogasawara can be judged by MLB groups, although he’ll be one of many youngest rotation candidates obtainable on this yr’s free agent market. With scouts already keeping track of his work for the Dragons, Ogasawara figures to attract some consideration ought to the Dragons resolve to publish him.