The Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced last night that they have signed a right-hander. Koyo Aoyagi available to major league teams through the mail order. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi writes on Twitter that MLB has approved the shipment, opening a 45-day window for the pitcher to sign with a major league team.
Aoyagi, who turns 31 next week, appears to be working as a deep arm. While serving as the starting pitcher for the Tigers, Aoyagi pitches to a side slot that is usually found in the bullpen. He is coming off a pedestrian season that he split almost equally between the Tigers and their minor league team. Aoyagi made 12 appearances at Japan’s senior level and 11 appearances for the youth ranks.
During his career at the highest level, he turned in a 3.69 ERA in 61 innings. His 13% strikeout rate would be about 10 percent below the MLB average. He showed decent but unusual control, walking 7.8% of the batters he faced. His career record is very impressive. He owns a 3.08 ERA with a 17.1% hitting percentage in nine NPB campaigns. However, this was his second consecutive mediocre season. Aoyagi posted a 4.57 ERA in 100 1/3 innings for the Tigers in 2023.
The 5’11” thrower jumped for Japan in the 2020 Olympics (which were held in Tokyo a year ago due to the pandemic). Japan went 5-0 and won the gold medal, although Aoyagi was tagged with five runs in 1 2/3 innings in two appearances. He did not make the national roster for the World Baseball Classic two years later.
Assuming the posting window officially opens today, Aoyagi will have January 17 to sign with an MLB team. If he doesn’t get the offer he wants, he’ll stay with the Tigers. Aoyagi’s numbers suggest he could be limited to a minor league deal. If he signs with an MLB team, that team will also pay a release fee to the Hanshin Tigers. The payment is proportional to the size of the contract. In the unlikely event that he signs for $25MM or less, the referral fee will be 20% of the guarantee.
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