The Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, and San Diego Padres have extra in widespread than being three of essentially the most disappointing groups of this Main League Baseball season. A few of their greatest gamers — Shohei Ohtani, Kodai Senga, and Ha-Seong Kim — had been obtained by way of the posting system after starting their careers enjoying in both Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball or the Korea Baseball Group.
Come this winter, extra groups will probably be turning to the posting system in pursuit of comparable success tales. It is early but, however three notable gamers are anticipated to be submitted this winter for MLB consideration: Japanese pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga and Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee. We right here at CBS Sports activities have spent latest weeks speaking to varied front-office sources and evaluators about these gamers and the way their video games would possibly translate to MLB. Beneath, you may discover all that info, in addition to potential suitors.
Earlier than we get to The Good Stuff, we really feel obligated to elucidate the mechanism. The posting system, for these unaware, is a part of MLB’s switch course of with NPB and KBO. As soon as a participant is posted, MLB teams have 30 days to achieve an settlement with them. From there, the participant’s former worldwide crew will obtain a charge that’s decided by the participant’s whole contract worth. Here is a breakdown of the tiers:
- Contract value lower than $25 million: 20% of contract worth
- Contract value $25 million to $50 million: $5 million plus 17.5% of quantity over $25 million
- Contract value greater than $50 million: $9.275 million plus 15% of quantity over $50 million
With that out of the way in which, let’s get to it. Do be aware that the gamers are offered in descending order of their anticipated price.
1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RHP, Orix Buffaloes
What’s his deal? Yamamoto, 25, is a extremely adorned right-hander. Final season, he received each the Pacific League Most Beneficial Participant and the Eiji Sawamura Award (the NPB equal of the Cy Younger Award). He is made 5 All-Star groups and, as of this writing, he is a three-time ERA champion and two-time Triple Crown winner. Yamamoto has amassed profession marks that embody a 1.74 ERA and a 4.54 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In the event you watched final spring’s World Baseball Traditional, you noticed him take the mound for Group Japan. Oh, and he lately threw his second profession no-hitter, and did it with New York Yankees common supervisor Brian Cashman in attendance.
What’s his sport? Yamamoto receives excessive marks for his command over a assorted arsenal. He throws his mid-90s fastball about half the time, with an upper-80s splitter serving as his fundamental secondary pitch. He’ll additionally work in a mid-70s curveball and a low-90s cutter. Every of these pitches has gone for a strike greater than 65% of the time this season, nodding at his above-average geography. Yamamoto’s splitter is his greatest pitch in terms of producing chases and whiffs. He is listed at simply 5-foot-10, however nowadays that might work to his benefit as groups have warmed as much as the vertical method angle idea.
What’s his market? The New York Mets, who’ve had a substantial amount of success with Senga this season, have been tied to Yamamoto all through the summer season. The Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Kansas Metropolis Royals have additionally been rumored to have scouted him.
2. Jung Hoo Lee, CF, Kiwoom Heroes
What’s his deal? Lee, 25, hasn’t performed since fracturing his ankle in July. He is nicknamed “Grandson of the Wind”in a nod to his father, himself a former KBO Most Beneficial Participant Award recipient. Lee is a lefty batter with a profession .340/.407/.491 slash line in addition to 65 residence runs and 69 stolen bases. I
What’s his sport? It is to be seen if and the way Lee is impacted by the fractured ankle heading ahead. Up so far, he is been thought to be a plus runner and defender. These attributes are necessary to his sport, since there’s all the time skepticism about how KBO hitters will take to MLB pitching. At minimal, he could require a while to regulate to his new environment, making him extra depending on his secondary abilities. Lee has displayed above-average contact and zone-management abilities all through his profession, having walked greater than he is struck out in 5 consecutive seasons. This yr, he whiffed on simply 9% of the swings he took total, together with solely 3% of the time versus fastballs. Lee does have some juice in his bat, although the home-run ball has seldom been a part of his assault (23 of his 65 profession residence runs got here in 2022).
What’s his market? The Giants have scouted Lee extensively and have an apparent want for a middle fielder. The Padres are additionally reportedly and will have a small benefit provided that he was once teammates with Ha-Seong Kim.
3. Shota Imanaga, LHP, Yokohama DeNA BayStars
What’s his deal? Imanaga, 30, is by far the oldest participant of this group. You might recall that he began for Japan within the World Baseball Traditional ultimate towards Group U.S.A. He is a left-hander with a profession 2.96 ERA and a 3.93 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Imanaga is nowhere close to as adorned as Yamamoto, however he has additionally made All-Star Video games and thrown a no-hitter earlier than, with the latter coming in July 2022.
What’s his sport? Imanaga is a fastball-heavy pitcher, slinging his rising low-90s heater near 60% of the time. He is thrown only one different pitch greater than 15% of the time this season: his low-80s slider. Imanaga does have a ton of different pitches that play cameo roles, together with a low-70s curve and a low-80s changeup. He does a superb job of producing chases along with his fastball, whereas his slider has coerced almost 40% whiffs.
What’s his market? Many of the traditional suspects have been tied to Imanaga, together with the Yankees, Boston Crimson Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, Giants, Padres, and Phillies. Not like Yamamoto, Imanaga is prone to be seen as a secondary or tertiary possibility. (Although, as one veteran expertise evaluator famous, it takes just one crew to interrupt the market huge open, à la the Crimson Sox final offseason with Masataka Yoshida.)
