MLB groups imagine Nippon Professional Baseball stars Hiromi Itoh and Teruaki Sato will each be posted into subsequent offseason’s free agent market, in accordance with ESPN.com’s Jorge Castillo. Itoh is a right-handed pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, whereas Sato is a slugging third baseman/outfielder for the Hanshin Tigers. Both are members of Japan’s World Baseball Classic crew, who sq. off with Venezuela right this moment in a quarter-final matchup in Miami.
Itoh turns 29 in August, and the righty has a 2.87 ERA, 21.73% strikeout fee, and 6.17% stroll fee over 828 profession innings with the Fighters from 2021-25. He is the reigning winner of the Sawamura Award, which is considerably akin to the Cy Young Award besides it’s only given to a sole NPB pitcher (not one every from the Central and Pacific Leagues) and it isn’t awarded yearly if no pitchers are deemed worthy of the consideration.
Big league pitching coaches may effectively be intrigued by delving into Itoh’s seven-pitch arsenal, which is highlighted by a fastball that has hit 96mph. Castillo writes that Itoh’s main pitches amidst his seven choices are the fastball, a splitter, and a sweeper.
The pretty modest strikeout fee might be a little bit of a purple flag for Major League groups, plus Itoh is comparatively quick at solely 5’9″. Still, a expertise evaluator for an American League crew tells Castillo that whereas Itoh is “smallish,” he has a “proven track record of durability. He should continue to strike out MLB hitters while allowing very few walks.”
Castillo names Sonny Gray as a comp for Itoh, whereas Ryan O’Hearn is the comp for Sato. The Hanshin slugger simply celebrated his twenty seventh birthday yesterday, and is coming off a 2025 season that noticed him hit .277/.345/.579 over 597 plate appearances whereas bopping a career-high 40 dwelling runs. This enormous 12 months earned him Central League MVP honors, plus his fourth All-Star nod in his 5 NPB seasons.
Sato’s resume additionally features a Gold Glove for his work at third base, which has been Sato’s main place over the past three seasons. He performed a great deal of proper subject in 2021-22 and in addition obtained some work again within the outfield this previous season, so Major League groups may view Sato as a flexible participant capable of capably toggle between the 2 positions, if he isn’t simply stored at third base.
Since each Itoh and Sato are effectively in need of the 9 full years of NPB service to attain full free company, the Fighters and Tigers must conform to make an earlier-than-expected posting so as to enable the gamers to check the massive league market. This is perhaps extra noteworthy in Sato’s case because the Tigers are historically reluctant to submit their gamers early. Any variety of components can go right into a crew’s decision-making course of about when (or if) to submit star gamers for MLB golf equipment, however one argument in Sato’s favor could be that he has already helped the Tigers obtain some crew success — the Tigers received the Japan Series in 2023 and reached the Series once more in 2025.
As a reminder, the foundations of MLB/NPB posting system state that when a participant is posted, he has 45 days to conform to a contract with a Major League crew. If no deal is reached inside that point, the participant returns to his Japanese crew for the subsequent season, although he could be posted once more in a future offseason. If a participant does conform to a contract to go to North America, his former NPB membership will earn a posting price associated to the dimensions of the contract. The NPB crew’s price would equal 20% of the primary $25MM of the participant’s assured Major League contract, 17.5% of the subsequent $25MM, and 15% of something past the $50MM mark.
It is feasible the posting system might be altered when the brand new Collective Bargaining Agreement is negotiated subsequent offseason. Changing the system would naturally require enter from NPB, and given all the different main labor points anticipated to dominate the talks between the Major League house owners and gamers’ union, the posting system might be a back-burner concern at finest.
That mentioned, it’s a digital assure that the league will lock out the gamers when the CBA expires on December 1, leading to a transactions freeze. Since most NPB gamers aren’t formally posted till not less than the second half of November, Itoh and Sato would nearly certainly have their 45-day home windows interrupted, leaving them in limbo all through nevertheless lengthy a piece stoppage may final. Either may want to remain in NPB for the 2027 season so as to wait out MLB’s labor uncertainty, although it ought to be famous that the 2021-22 lockout didn’t deter Seiya Suzuki from making the soar to the majors. Suzuki was comfy ready out what ended up being a 99-day lockout, and he landed his five-year, $85MM take care of the Cubs.
The markets for this 12 months’s crop of high-profile NPB expertise may additionally influence Itoh and Sato’s choices. Kazuma Okamoto landed a four-year, $60MM deal from the Blue Jays that mainly matched projections, however new Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai (three years, $54MM with two opt-out clauses) and new White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami (two years and $34MM) needed to accept lesser contracts than anticipated. While clearly gamers are all the time attempting to submit large numbers and proper any flaws of their sport, there might be some further strain on Itoh and Sato in showcasing themselves through the 2026 season if their hope is to land an expensive MLB contract subsequent winter.
