Washington Nationals Receive an Indifferent Grade for Signing Japanese Southpaw

Will a recent signing by the Washington Nationals have an impact on the team?

Aug 1, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo discusses the close of the trade window before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Nationals Park. / Brad Mills-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals are just a couple of weeks away from the start of Spring Training and the young core is certainly excited to get back on the field.

It has been a tough few years for the Nationals. The rebuild has been taking quite a while, but there seems to finally be a light at the end of the tunnel coming up.

Coming into the offseason, the thought was Washington might be finally looking to make a splash in free agency to kick start their rebuild. However, with the offseason nearly over, that has yet to happen.

But, even though they didn’t make a significant addition, they did spend some money on veterans who should help make this a better team in 2025.

One of their signings was a surprise coming over from Japan, who could play a role for the team in 2025.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently graded the signing of Shinnosuke Ogasawara for the Nationals, and he gave it an indifferent grade of a "C."

While the lineup should be improving and potentially dangerous in 2025 and beyond, pitching is still as massive question mark for the Nationals.

Adding Ogasawara as a free agent will continue to give Washington depth at pitcher, which seems to be their preferred method right now. Due to multiple players in the starting rotation being young, it’s hard to still predict what they will become.

However, while Ogasawara might have been a starter in Japan, him translating to becoming a staple in the rotation might be far-fetched. The left-hander is more of a pitch to contact guy and striking people out isn’t his forte. While that can potentially change coming over to the Majors and working with new coaches, it’s unlikely he will become a star.

For the Nationals, he could fit in nicely for the team despite this.

Having a left-hander out of the bullpen is always a plus, and the 27-year-old could end up being the long man out of the bullpen for Washington if Trevor Williams pitches like he did last season.

There is obviously a lot of unknown about how the southpaw’s repertoire on the mound will translate to the MLB, but depth in the pitching category is never a bad thing.

Perhaps with some good coaching, the Nationals can develop him into a solid contributor.

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