"In the past couple of years, MLB has been spoiled by the talent posted from Japan. In the offseason prior to 2024, the L.A. Dodgers signed ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who did what he did in the playoffs this year, and the Chicago Cubs signed pitcher Shota Imanaga, who had a great debut season. The Roki Sasaki sweepstakes were a highlight of the offseason prior to 2025, before Sasaki went, inevitably, to the Dodgers."
"For one, two of them are batters, not pitchers. As someone who generally understands pitching better than hitting, I am naturally biased toward cool pitching; also, coming from NPB's dead-ball environs, pitchers tend to be the ones with flashier statistics and the more successful crossover performers (delightfully, Shohei Ohtani is both a pillar of this rule and the exception that proves it)."
A simple flowchart frames excitement about incoming Japanese free agents: cheer if a favorite team signed one, be gleefully vindictive if a rival did, and be ambivalent otherwise. Recent years produced high-profile NPB-to-MLB signings that raised expectations, including Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanaga, and Roki Sasaki. This year's class — Munetaka Murakami, Tatsuya Imai, and Kazuma Okamoto — feels less dazzling in comparison, at least until the World Baseball Classic. Two of the signings are position players rather than pitchers. Pitchers from NPB have historically provided flashier stats and more successful MLB transitions, with Shohei Ohtani as a notable dual-role exception. Yamamoto posted a 1.16 ERA before arriving. Murakami, a 25-year-old left-handed first baseman, posted a 1.051 OPS last year and holds the NPB single-season home run record.
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