The Washington Nationals announced on Friday that they had agreed to a two-year Major League contract with Japanese left-handed pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who had been posted earlier this offseason by Nippon Professional Baseball's Chunichi Dragons. Financial terms of the contract have not yet been unveiled. To make room on the 40-man roster, the team designated LHP Joe La Sorsa for assignment.
The acquisition of Ogasawara, 27, marks the first time the Nationals have signed a player directly out of Asia. The lefty, standing 5'11", has pitched in NPB over parts of nine seasons dating back to 2016 when he was drafted out of high school as an 18-year-old. Over 951.1 innings with the top-level Dragons team, he recorded a 3.62 ERA, 757 strikeouts, and a 2.46 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
While this is certainly an exciting development for Nationals fans who have been eager for the team to expand its reach in international markets, Ogasawara is likely at best a swingman type for the team. His last season with an ERA+ of 100 (average) or better in Japan was 2022, and he posted a strikeout per 9 ratio of just 5.1 last season over 144.1 innings. He features excellent control of the strike zone, posting a walk rate of 3.7% last year which placed him in the 87th percentile of NPB pitching, and throws as many as six different pitches according to an analysis published by Sports Info Solutions' Brandon Tew earlier this month, but the fastball averages about 89-90 MPH. Tew cites Ogasawara's changeup and splitter, which he combined to throw for just 19% of all pitches last year, as his best offerings, with a knuckle curve without much bite being his main secondary. Stuff+ and Location+ both seemed to view his changeup as about average, with everything else being either located well, having average stuff, or (in the case of the knuckle curve) neither. He threw the split just 3.3% of the time in 2024, but it generated excellent results when he did and the pitch models liked it accordingly.
Ogasawara was an All-Star in NPB's Central League for the Dragons as recently as 2023, but he'll need to get to work with Nationals pitching coaches Jim Hickey and Sean Doolittle, a fellow lefty, if he is to unlock enough tools to be an effective pitcher in Major League Baseball. Ultimately, it's a low-risk signing: if it doesn't work out, he likely gets optioned to the minors and hits free agency harmlessly, or he gets traded for cash. If it does work out, the Nationals could get upwards of 200 decent Major League innings over the next two seasons for what is a solidly low salary at just $4.2 million total, with the contract being worth $3.5 million, and the Nationals having to pay the $700K posting fee. Tew compares Ogasawara to Kolby Allard, who found himself in the rotation of the NL East champion Phillies in the middle of the 2024 season, even if it was to fill in for Ranger Suárez.
La Sorsa, 26, has pitched in part of the last two seasons with the Nationals, and with the Tampa Bay Rays before that. He recorded a 12.2 K-BB% in 16 appearances with the Major League squad in 2024, allowing four home runs.
Much of the information in this article was sourced from Twitter user bouno05's NPB Pitch Profiler app. It's a fantastic offering for those looking to take a further look into analysis of players in Japan's top league.