NPB All-Star Generating Interest From Tampa Bay Rays

As the Tampa Bay Rays look to rebuild their starting rotation in 2024, they are looking overseas for some potential help.

Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Tay Times:

The Rays have some interest in right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa, a 29-year-old right-hander from Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters

Uwasawa doesn't have the name recognition of fellow Japanese pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Shoto Imanaga, but he's accomplished in his own right as a three-time NPB All-Star.

There's more on him from an article on MLBTradeRumors:

Uwasawa (who turns 30 in February) had a 3.19 ERA over 1118 1/3 career innings in NPB, all with the Fighters from 2014-2023. Though it took a few years for the righty to fully establish himself on the Fighters’ roster, Uwasawa’s results have always been pretty solid, and his 2.96 ERA over 170 innings in 2023 represented a career best...

The two big knocks against Uwasawa from a Major League scouting perspective are his lack of strikeouts (19.67% strikeout rate) and a lack of velocity. Uwasawa’s average fastball clocked in at around 90.8mph in 2023, according to MLBTR’s Dai Takegami Podziewski in the September edition of the NPB Players To Watch feature.

The Rays could use him as they rebuild that rotation, which has been ravaged by injuries. In addition to trading Tyler Glasnow to the Dodgers last week, the Rays also will be without Drew Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs and Shane McClanahan for all or part of the 2024 season.

Tampa Bay won 99 games last season and finished second in the American League East. At this point, Ryan Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Zach Elfin and Zack Littell are candidates for the starting rotation. Clearly there is more work to be done.

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