Four players from Nippon Professional Baseball are available to major league teams this offseason. However, the best is yet to come in Tetsuto Yamada.
Several interesting names have been added to the free agent pool over the past few weeks. Nippon Professional Baseball veteran Shogo Akiyama is a free agent, and is intent on coming stateside. Three other players from Japan – Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Shun Yamaguchi, and Ryosuke Kikuchi – are being posted. Each of these players offers a different skillset, and should intrigue major league front offices.
However, the best from Japan is still yet to come. Despite being rumored as a player who could be posted for the past couple of years, Tetsuto Yamada remains in Japan. The Yakult Swallows second baseman, who has also been called Japan’s answer to Mike Trout, has easily been the most dynamic player in NPB today.
His 2019 campaign did nothing to change that perception. Yamada posted a .271/.401/.560 batting line, hitting 35 homers, 35 doubles, and stealing 33 bases. That marked the fourth time in the past five years that Yamada has posted a 30-30 season, further proving his all around game.
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Yamada is not the most impressive physical specimen. He weighs just 163 points at 5’10” tall, a shorter, rail thin player. Yet, despite his lack of size, he has a tremendously quick swing that generates immense power. Defensively, Yamada is essentially limited to second, but his offensive upside makes comparisons to Jose Altuve viable.
It is also worth noting that Yamada turned 27 years old this past season. Should he be posted, a team would be getting him at the start of his prime, and could get the most of his all around game. However, any interested team would have to get into a bidding war, as he would not be held to the international bonus pool cap.
At this point, it is uncertain that Yamada comes stateside this offseason. The Swallows have not expressed an interest in posting the best player in Japan, and given that their posting fee is capped at $20 million, there is not much of a financial incentive. Yet, if there is an inkling that he could become available, Yamada is the type of player that is worth waiting for.
The best player in Nippon Professional Baseball will eventually come available, either through international free agency or the posting system. When that happens, the bidding war for Tetsuto Yamada will be fascinating to watch.