MLB: Former Players Find Success in Japan’s Top League

The Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Organization is the MLB of Japan. As the popularity of the league rises, more and more former major league players are joining in an attempt to revitalize their careers. Many have already found success.

This year alone, eight former MLB players have made their debut for one of the 13 teams in the Nippon league. There were already dozens of former major leaguers playing in Japan, and the number will only continue to grow.

It’s no surprise that players head to the NPB, as the league is full of talent. In the three World Baseball Classics that have occurred, the Japanese have won two powered by players who play in the Nippon league. In the other, they finished third.

This is also the league that MLB greats Hideki Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki played in for a long time. Many people who have been around both leagues describe the NPB as “Quadruple-A”, more competitive than Triple-A, but not quite at MLB level. There are some small differences in gameplay between the organizations, but for the most part the game is played the same way.

Though the NPB cannot live up to MLB, they are comfortably in position as the second best baseball league in the world.

It might be interesting to look at former MLB players having success in the Japanese league. Some had decent careers here in America, while others struggled throughout their tenure.

For the purpose of this list, all NPB players with MLB experience that started in the NPB and grew up in Japan have been disregarded. This way, all players on the list were ones who moved to Japan for baseball purposes only.

Here are the MLB-turned-NPB players that are best for their teams in Japan.

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