Kenta Maeda asks to be posted by Hiroshima Carp

Kenta Maeda could be the latest Japanese star pitcher to make the jump to Major League Baseball.

Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda has asked to be posted by his NPB team, the Hiroshima Carp, according to a report by Yasuka Yanagita of Sports Hochi.

The right-hander has been the subject of American interest and speculation for a while. After Masahiro Tanaka signed with the New York Yankees in 2014, many pegged Maeda as the next major Japanese pitching import to make his way to U.S. shores.

If Hiroshima grants his request, it appears that will be the case.

While Maeda probably won’t quite reach the hype levels of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Yu Darvish and Tanaka before him, he does boast an impressive eight-season resume in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Maeda owns a 97-67 record during his career with the Carp, sporting a 2.39 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 3.87 K/BB over 1,509.2 total innings. 2015 was arguably his best season yet as a professional, as he posted a 2.09 ERA and 1.01 WHIP on the way to collecting his second Sawamura Award (the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young).

Scouts have praised Maeda’s command and the natural sinking action on his pitches, but according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler, he doesn’t throw particularly hard (87-93 mph) and he lacks a weapon like Tanaka’s splitter. There is also some concern about whether his 6-foot, 160-pound frame can stand up to a full MLB workload.

Maeda will turn 28 next April, meaning MLB teams will probably feel confident enough in offering him a multi-year deal. While he almost surely won’t come close to the seven-year, $155 million contract Tanaka got from the Yankees, a pact of four or five years could be in the cards. An opt-out clause like the one Tanaka received might also be a possibility.

Under Japan’s revamped posting system, any major league club can negotiate with Maeda for thirty days after he is made available. Whichever team reaches an agreement with him must then pay a release fee of up to $20 million to Hiroshima.

Maeda’s current contract with the Carp runs through 2017, so they will likely want to cash in on him before then or else risk losing him for nothing. But with two seasons remaining on his deal, could they keep him for one more and post him next year instead? Possibly, but it’s hard to imagine his value being much higher than it is right now.

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The upper echelon of pitchers in this year’s free agency pool is stacked with brand-name aces such as David Price and Zack Greinke. If Maeda enters the mix, he will likely become a very intriguing name on the market’s second tier. The Arizona Diamondbacks are one team that has been linked to him recently.