Japanese MLB Presence Continues to Grow; Twelve Imports Begin Season on Rosters

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Twelve Japanese import players begin the 2025 season on Major League Baseball rosters, all having the opportunity to play prominent roles. That total is two more than a year ago and five more than in 2022, providing more evidence of the growing impact of Japanese players in MLB.  

The most-watched player in the game, of course, is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, who is coming off an unprecedented 54-home-run, 59-stolen-base season that earned him the National League Most Valuable Player honor. He’s also expected to return to the mound after a year and a half of recovery from Tommy John surgery. 

But Ohtani isn’t the only Japanese player on the Dodgers roster. He’ll be joined by pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was 7-2 in an injury-shortened first season in MLB, and 23-year-old phenom Roki Sasaki, who signed with the club in January after a highly publicized courtship. 

Pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano will make his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles at the age of 35, while other top imports will return for another season: pitchers Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui of the San Diego Padres, Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs, Yusei Kikuchi of the Los Angeles Angels, Kenta Maeda of the Detroit Tigers, and Kodai Senga of the New York Mets; and outfielders Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs and Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox. 

Shohei Ohtani

It is difficult, if not impossible, to find something to say about Ohtani that hasn’t been said numerous times. 

As a full-time designated hitter in 2024, he had a career-best .310 batting average, 54 home runs, and 130 RBI. He became just the 19th player in MLB history to get at least 400 total bases in a season, and his 59 stolen bases are most ever by a Japanese-born player in MLB, surpassing the 56 of Ichiro Suzuki. He was caught trying to steal just four times. Ohtani ranked first in MLB in runs scored; second in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, OPS, and stolen bases; third in WAR, according to Baseball Reference; fourth in hits and bases on balls; and fifth in on-base percentage. 

Ohtani had surgery in early November to repair the labrum in his left shoulder, injured while sliding during Game 2 of the World Series, but he is fully ready as a hitter now. 

Time will tell as to whether he can come close to replicating those batting achievements, given that he is planning to return to the mound on a regular basis – probably beginning sometime in May, though it might be earlier. It will also be interesting to see how he and the Dodgers handle his workload. Ohtani, who has had two Tommy John surgeries during his MLB career, will be 31 in July and has indicated that another surgery could mean the end of his career on the mound.

“I’ll be going from mid-level to veteran in 2021,” he was quoted as saying. “When the opportunity to have another surgery comes, it’s not realistic to have to rehabilitate for another year and a half. When I think about it that way, I feel like this might be my last chance,” Ohtani said, per Yahoo.

Ohtani averaged .304 in 23 official spring-training at-bats and was 3-8 with a home run in the season-opening two-game series against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo.

Roki Sasaki

As for Sasaki, there is no doubting his ace-level talent. In four NPB seasons, he posted a 2.02 ERA, 1.78 FIP (fielding independent pitching), and 32.7 K% across 394.2 innings of work. He threw 17 consecutive perfect innings in 2022, including a 19-strikeout perfect game. In his first start after that, he threw eight perfect innings and struck out 14 batters. He also struck out 11 batters in 7.2 innings during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which Japan won.

He can get to 102 mph with his fastball, a four-seamer that averaged almost 99 mph in 2023, although that average did dip to 96.8 mph in 2024. His splitter averaged 88.2 mph in 2024 and generated a whiff rate greater than 57 percent, while his slider averaged 83.6 mph and resulted in a 40.7 percent whiff rate. One report said, “he has an ideal projectable lean and athletic frame and throws a ton of strikes . . . He has No. 1 starter potential, though there are some questions about his velocity dipping on all three of his pitches from 2023 to 2024. In addition, his ERA (2.35), WHIP (1.04), strikeout rate (28.7%), walk rate (7.1%) and K/BB ratio (4.03) all took steps back in 2024.

Sasaki wasn’t healthy throughout any of his four NPB seasons, and there are questions about how he’ll avoid injuries in MLB. He has pitched 100 or more innings in a season just twice, and his highest total is just 129.1. It will be interesting to see how the Dodgers manage his workload and bring him along.

In two appearances in scheduled spring-training games, he did not allow an earned run in seven innings while striking out seven batters. He then pitched three innings in the second of the two-game series against the Cubs in Tokyo. In that game, he gave up one run and one hit with three strikeouts and five walks.

“When you get youth and talent, which is Roki, what that introduces is variance,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

In 2024, the first year of a 12-year, $325 million contract, Yamamoto missed a lot of time because of a rotator cuff strain and did not return to the Dodgers until September 10. 

He finished the regular season with a 7-2 record, 3.90 ERA, a fielding-independent pitching mark of 2.61, and a 1.11 WHIP. He averaged 10.5 strikeouts and 2.2 walks per nine innings. Opposing batters averaged just .229 against him, with an on-base percentage of only .275. He was then 2-0 in the playoffs, with good efforts in three of his four appearances.

In the spring, Yamamoto had a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings and then matched up against countryman Shota Imanaga in the first game of the series against the Cubs, with Yamamoto getting credit for the victory in a 4-1 Dodgers win. He went five innings, giving up a run, a walk, and three hits while striking out four.

Shota Imanaga

Imanaga’s overall marks in his first MLB season were a 15-3 win/loss record, 2.91 ERA, and 1.02 WHIP. He became the Cubs’ first rookie pitcher since Dick Drott (in 1957) to win 15 games in a season. Chicago was 23-6 in games he started, while just 60-73 in the other games. Indeed, Imanaga outshone his more ballyhooed and expensive countryman, Yamamoto, in 2024.  

“He’s been our best pitcher. He’s been our best player,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said toward the end of the 2024 season. “There’s no question about it. He’s just delivered, and he’s been a huge boost for us.” 

Imanaga had a 5.73 ERA during the spring but pitched four hitless, scoreless innings in the season-opener against the Dodgers, though he did walk four batters. 

Yusei Kikuchi

Kikuchi was very much a man on the move in 2024. He was dealt to Houston at the trade deadline and was very effective, going 5-1 for the Astros and helping them to the American League West Division title. Relying less on the curveball and more on the slider, he pitched to a 2.70 earned-run average with Houston.

Then he, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, chose the Los Angeles Angels in free agency, signing a three-year, $63 million contract in late November. 

Kikuchi had good results from spring training, with the addition of a sweeper to his repertoire making a big difference. 

“It’s a pitch-I-can-keep-in-my-back-pocket kind of thing,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima after a March 14 spring-training outing in which he allowed just one run and struck out eight batters in 4.1 innings. “Just pick and choose different spots to use it. I wouldn’t say, like, play around with it, but just making sure I know when to use it.”

He has been designated as the Angels’ opening-day starter against the Chicago White Sox after posting a 3.00 ERA and striking out 16 batters in 12 innings during the spring. 

Seiya Suzuki

Suzuki began to come on strong in July of last season and finished the season with a slash line of .283/.366/.848, 21 home runs, and 73 RBI. Beginning in mid-August, he was primarily the designated hitter. He adapted well to it and is expected to play that role again in 2025, particularly since Cody Bellinger elected to remain with the Cubs instead of opting out of his contract. Suzuki’s bat, rather than his defense, is his strong point. He made 36 of his final 37 starts in 2023 as a designated hitter. During that time, he averaged .326 with a .933 OPS. 

“I thought Seiya did a great job when he was DH’ing,” Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer said. “Anytime you just have depth at a bunch of positions, [let’s say] you lose an outfielder, and all of a sudden to have the ability to slot a guy like that in is really nice. Seiya had a great year.”

Suzuki batted .250 with an .861 OPS in 36 spring-training at-bats and was 0-8 in the two games against the Dodgers in Tokyo. 

During the spring, he channeled legendary Japanese hitter Sadaharu Oh by taking batting practice with a samurai sword and slicing up numerous balls.

Masataka Yoshida

Signed to a five-year, $90 million contract before the 2023 season – which some thought was an overpayment – Yoshida has had some good moments but has yet to pay massive dividends on the Red Sox’ investment. Except for one inning, he operated last season as a designated hitter after playing 87 games in the outfield in 2023 and being subpar defensively.

Yoshida played in 108 games in 2024 and had 421 plate appearances, slashing .280/.349/.415 with 10 homers and 56 RBIs. He dealt with shoulder and thumb issues that landed him on the Injured List from April 29 until June 10. On October 3, he underwent labral repair on his right shoulder, which was deemed successful. His labrum started bothering him late in his rookie year of 2023, but he played through the discomfort all last season, when he was used exclusively as a DH.

Still, he has not had a full healthy season yet in MLB, and if he can stay healthy over a full season, he could give the Red Sox value. 

This spring, Yoshida averaged .286 in 35 official at-bats.

Yu Darvish

Darvish, now 38 and starting the third season of a six-year, $108 million contract, made two appearances in scheduled spring training games – allowing three runs in 6.2 innings – but halted his throwing program on March 17 because of what was referred to as “general fatigue”. 

Then, it was announced on March 21 that he will miss the beginning of the season because of inflammation in his right elbow. 

Padres manager Mike Shildt said, “We feel pretty comfortable that some rest and getting ramped back up will be the answer.”

Darvish’s 2024 season was truncated by elbow and neck issues. He did not pitch from May 29 until returning to Padres on September 4, in part because of a personal matter that kept him away from the team for a period of time.  

He was solid in September, making five starts, and also became the first Japanese pitcher in MLB history to record at least 2000 strikeouts when he fanned Luis Robert of the White Sox on September 22. He was then effective in the playoffs, allowing just six hits and three earned runs over 13.2 innings. 

Kodai Senga

The 2024 season was a lost season for Senga, too, as he was twice on the 60-day injured list in 2024 and made only two appearances – one in the regular season and one in the playoffs. But he was healthy this spring and added a two-seam fastball, or sinker, to his repertoire. 

David Stearns, the Mets’ president of baseball operations, said in December, “We still expect him to be a pitcher for us on Opening Day and be ready to go. We have to get not only the medical piece checked off, which I think we will be able to, but we also have to have a pitcher who feels really confident from where he is from a mechanical perspective to go out and compete and win games for us.”

Senga had been an All-Star in 2023 and placed second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.

“We know what he means to this team and this rotation,’’ Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Everyone saw it in 2023. That’s what we’re looking for. If he’s healthy, he’s an ace. We need that. Right now, he’s trending in the right direction.”

Senga was 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA during spring games.

Kenta Maeda

By any standard, Maeda had a rough 2024, the first season of a two-year, $24 million deal. 

He was moved from a starting role to the bullpen in mid-July after not being effective and was not particularly effective in the pen, either, until he showed some promise in the season’s final month. Maeda finished the regular season with a 3-7 mark, 6.09 earned-run average, 1.38 WHIP, and .281 batting average against. He also had career worsts in strikeout rate (19.8%) and whiff rate (23.8%).

Nonetheless, he’ll get a chance to prove himself in the early going this year, as the Tigers aren’t eager to cut him and eat the remaining $10 million on his contract. 

“He’s going to compete for a spot in our rotation,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said during the off-season. “We have a lot of starters that are coming to camp expecting to compete for a job. Kenta at his best will have every opportunity to earn a job.”

And Maeda had some strong spring outings, though the overall results were mixed – a high 4.91 ERA but a very low 0.95 WHIP over 14.2 innings.

Tomoyuki Sugano

At 35, Sugano is one of the oldest Japanese players to come to MLB. He was first posted after the 2020 season but could not reach an agreement within the posting period. This time, as an international free agent with more than nine years of professional experience, he got a one-year deal worth $13 million from the Orioles.

In 12 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants, he posted a 136-75 record with a 2.43 earned-run mark and 1.035 WHIP. He was not an overwhelming strikeout guy (7.7 per nine innings), but his walk rate (1.7 per nine innings) was very good. He allowed 7.6 hits and less than one home run (0.7) per nine innings. He has twice won the Sawamura Award – Japan’s equivalent of MLB’s Cy Young Award – and has been named an all-star eight times. In 2024, he was 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA and 0.94 WHIP, a record that earned him his third Central League Most Valuable Player honor. 

Reports say Sugano features a six-pitch mix, including a four-seam fastball, cutter, sinker, slider, splitter, and curveball. 

“We have particular optimism that he’s going to figure out a way to transition to Major League Baseball because his command and pitchability are so well above average,” Orioles General Manager Mike Elias said. “We think he’s going to be able to implement scouting plans and make changes. He’s very self-aware as a pitcher.”

In four spring-training appearances covering 15 innings, he had an ERA of 3.00 and a 1.07 WHIP. He did not allow a run in his first five outings but gave up five in his final appearance.

Yuki Matsui

Matsui, a 28-year-old in his first MLB season, was solid for the Padres, though he had a bit of a down performance in September.

Matsui finished the regular season at 4-2 with a 3.73 earned-run mark. He gave up just 46 hits in 62.2 innings and struck out 69. He also walked 27 batters, but only five in the season’s last three months.

After posting a 3.72 earned-run mark and 1.24 WHIP in 10 spring-training appearances, he is expected to have a more significant role in the Padres’ bullpen this season.

NOTES: The 27-year-old pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara signed a two-year deal with Washington in the off-season, but he was optioned to AAA Rochester on March 21 after giving up 15 earned runs and walking eight batters in 12 innings during spring training. In nine seasons with the NPB’s Chunichi Dragons, he had a 46-65 record with a 3.90 ERA in 161 games. He averaged 7.1 strikeouts and 3.0 walks per nine innings with a 1.287 WHIP . . . The Athletics landed a compelling player during the international signing period in January, signing 18-year-old Japanese two-way (pitcher/infielder) prospect Shotaro Morii. Morii broke the standard cultural norm by skipping NPB in favor of jumping into the MLB-affiliated ranks. It will be interesting to see if his decision encourages other young prospects to do the same. He made a solid impression during spring training. Morii said that his choice to skip NPB had not been influenced by the decision last year by slugging first baseman Rintaro Sasaki, Japan’s all-time high school home run leader, to forego the NPB draft, attend Stanford University, and be MLB draft eligible in 2026. Last year, he played in the MLB Draft League and the Appalachian League, where he showed off his power. At the moment, he is doing very well for Stanford, with a .322/.408/.489 slash line through March 25 . . . Another Japanese player who opted to play college ball in the U.S. is Itsuki Takemoto, who pitched in the Koshien tournament as a high-schooler with Chiben Wakayama High School and then went to the University of Hawaii. With an ERA of 0.71, he was voted the most outstanding pitcher of the prestigious Cape Cod collegiate summer league in 2024. He also serves as a designated hitter. At the moment, he is 2-3 in six starts on the mound. At the plate, he is averaging .379 with a 1.024 OPS . . . Relief pitcher Koyo Aoyagi signed a minor-league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies in the off-season and was a non-roster invitee to spring training. He was reassigned to minor-league camp on March 15, but he still has options so he could be recalled during the season. In nine seasons with the NPB’s Hanshin Tigers, Aoyagi was 82-61 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.25 WHIP, and he won the Central League ERA title in 2022 . . . Another import signing a minor-league contract was Shintaro Fujinami, who took a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training from the Seattle Mariners. Reportedly, he had offers from NPB teams but chose the Mariner organization instead and will begin the season at AAA Tacoma. Fujinami can hit triple digits with his four-seam fastball and has a nasty splitter, but he struggles with his command. He split time with the Athletics and Orioles in 2023, posting a 7.18 ERA and a walk rate of 5.1/9 in 64 outings. He spent 2024 in the Mets’ system, seeing action at four different levels. He was 1-2 with a 5.94 ERA . . . Slugger Munetaka Murakami of the Yakult Swallows, who broke the record for home runs in a single season by a Japanese-born player with 56 in 2022, announced that this will be his last season in NPB and he will then look to move to MLB. Though his numbers have dropped significantly the past two seasons, he still has hit 64 home runs with an .860 OPS over that period. He’ll be 26 at the start of the 2026 season . . . Pitcher Kohei Arihara, who had an short, unsuccessful MLB stint with the Texas Rangers, was named to the Pacific League’s Best Nine after the 2024 season . . . Interesting article about eight MLB teams who have had significant histories with Japanese imports . . .