Japanese Pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara Officially Posted to MLB Free Agency

The Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball have officially posted left-handed pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara to MLB free agency, Beisbol FR's Francys Romero reported Tuesday morning.

Ogasawara spent the past nine seasons with the Dragons, who initially approved his request to be posted in October. The 27-year-old was named an All-Star for the first time in 2023.

The Japanese southpaw now has 45 days to negotiate with MLB teams. If he cannot reach a deal before Jan. 24, Ogasawara will head back to NPB for 2025.

If a team does sign Ogasawara, they will owe the Dragons a release fee on top of the deal he secures. MLB Trade Rumors previously predicted Ogasawara to land a two-year, $12 million contract, which would net the Dragons a $2.4 million payday.

The Japanese left-hander pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara (27) has been officially posted by the Chunichi Dragons.

Ogasawara is represented by William Morris Endeavor (WME).
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) December 10, 2024

Ogasawara is the first player the Dragons have posted since Akinori Otsuka, who signed with the San Diego Padres ahead of the 2004 campaign and spent four seasons in the majors. Otsuka has spent the past few years as the Dragons' pitching coach, perhaps setting Ogasawara on the path towards MLB.

For his career, Ogasawara is 54-72 with a 3.67 ERA, 1.291 WHIP and 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Over the past three seasons, though, he is 22-31 with a 3.15 ERA and 1.177 WHIP.

Ogasawara joins Roki Sasaki, Tomoyuki Sugano and Koyo Aoyagi on the growing list of Japanese pitchers headed to MLB this winter. Last offseason, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga were the most notable ones to take the leap.

As a 5-foot-11 lefty, Ogasawara boasts a similar physical profile to Imanaga. However, Imanaga was able to get far more strikeouts in NPB, which was not Ogasawara's strong suit in recent years.

MLB Trade Rumors predicted the Athletics, Padres, Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Guardians to sign Ogasawara back in November, while the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners could be in the market to land another star from Asia.

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