The Yokohama DeNa Baystars of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball are going to publish left-hander Shota Imanaga this offseason, experiences Jon Morosi of MLB.com. The southpaw can be eligible to discover alternatives with golf equipment in Main League Baseball as a free agent, although any membership that indicators him would owe a posting payment to the Baystars.
Imanaga is a veteran in Japan, having simply turned 30 years previous on September 1. Over eight seasons, he has tossed 977 innings with a 3.18 earned run common whereas hanging out 24.9% of batters confronted and strolling 6.9%. He’s been ever higher this yr, with a 2.72 ERA over 122 1/3 innings, together with a 29.1% strikeout price and three.9% stroll price. He additionally pitched for Japan within the World Baseball Basic earlier this yr, permitting two earned runs over six innings.
Right here at MLBTR, Imanaga has been featured on all 4 editions of our NPB Gamers To Watch collection, coming in at #3 within the first version however #2 on every subsequent replace. As famous by MLBTR’s Dai Takegami Podziewski within the first of that collection, Imanaga doesn’t have an overwhelming fastball however finds success because of his command and will get strikeouts along with his changeup, which is near a splitter. He additionally has a cutter, a curveball and a slider. He signed with the U.S.-based company Octagon to assist talks towards a posting settlement final offseason.
As soon as Imanaga is formally posted, there can be a 30-day window the place MLB golf equipment can negotiate along with his representatives. If a deal is reached, the signing crew may also owe cash to the Baystars, with that quantity being relative to the dimensions of the contract given. Any massive league crew that indicators him would owe the Baystars a payment equal to twenty% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the subsequent $25MM and 15% of any {dollars} thereafter. If he doesn’t attain an settlement with an MLB crew, he’ll return to the Baystars for 2024.
When he hits the market, Imanaga will add one other fascinating arm to a free agent class that’s heavy on pitching. One other NPB star, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, is predicted to be within the combine, alongside different pitchers like Aaron Nola, Blake Snell, Lucas Giolito, Jordan Montgomery and Sonny Grey, whereas pitchers like Eduardo Rodriguez and Marcus Stroman have opt-outs and will soar into the combination as nicely.
