Japanese righty Hirokazu Sawamura has drawn early interest from multiple Major League teams, MLBTR has learned. It’s not yet certain that the 32-year-old reliever will make the jump to the big leagues, but the nine-year veteran has pitched in front of plenty of Major League scouts during his tenure in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He’s an unrestricted free agent this winter, so he won’t be subject to the NPB-MLB posting system.
Sawamura spent the bulk of his NPB career pitching with the Yomiuri Giants but got out to a rough start in 2020 — nine runs on 14 hits and eight walks in 13 2/3 innings — prompting the Giants to trade him to the Chiba Lotte Marines. He’s righted the ship with his new team, allowing just two runs on six hits and seven walks with 19 punchouts in 14 2/3 frames.
Overall, Sawamura has logged 862 innings in his NPB career and worked to a 2.77 ERA with 8.1 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9. He began his career as a starter before becoming the Giants’ closer in 2015. He racked up 73 saves over the next two seasons as their primary ninth-inning option before missing the 2017 season due to a shoulder issue. (Bizarrely, it seems the Giants mistreated his initial discomfort with an acupuncture procedure that resulted in a nerve injury; the team’s president and GM both issued apologies to the right-hander.) He’s pitched mostly in a setup capacity since returning in 2018.
This year’s early struggles will surely be a red flag for some big league teams, but Sawamura’s post-trade rebound, his track record and a potentially MLB-caliber arsenal should all work in his favor if he does hope to sign in North America. The right-hander has a fastball that can reach 97 mph, a low-90s splitter that functions as his primary out pitch and a slider.
It’s hard to gauge precisely what type of market Sawamura would find, though demand for affordable bullpen help will be widespread, as is the case each winter. Some recent examples of pure relievers coming over from NPB include the Padres’ two-year, $3.8MM deal with Kazuhisa Makita, the Blue Jays’ one-year, $1MM deal with Rafael Dolis (plus a club option) and the Brewers $1MM deal with Jay Jackson. Dolis and Jackson, of course, were returning after years away from the big leagues.
Get it done, Dipoto.
Given his raw numbers, the Red Sox should take a look. OTOH, anyone with those numbers who pitched in the over-60 Convicted Felons League should be looked at by the Red Sox.
Seems according to multiple sources sox are close to an agreement with him
Is he trained as a…sawamurai?
No. But he stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.
I really wish Harry Caray was around these days…can you imagine “Sawamura” spelled backwards is……
I remember him having a hell of a time with Andres Galarraga lol
We still have Will Ferrell to impersonate him…”If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?…I would! I’d smother myself in brown mustard and relish, I’d be so delicious!”
How’d he do with Odrisamer Despaigne?
Japanese family names aren’t as complicated as they look. They are usually two words joined together that refer to where they were from. Sawa means “village” and mura is “swamp.” (I had to look it up, I know only enough Japanese to be dangerous.)
A village swamp sounds very luxurious. Quite frankly, anything involving a swamp sounds great. There are swamps in the U.S. If I lived there I would totally prefer to get eaten by an alligator before malaria set in.
Sawa means “stream” and Mura means “village”. The Japanese word for “swamp” is Numa. The surname probably comes from a village that had a small river close by or something.
That sounds a lot more pleasant.
Based on how he’s pitched in Japan and that he’s got a really strong sounding Arsenal he should be a highly targeted FA for just about any ML team. As a red Sox fan, who desperately need bullpen help I’d love to see them give him a shot. he shouldn’t cost more than $3-$5M over 2 years and the potential for him to be a great reliever is probably much higher than anyone else that they’ll be able to sign for so little $ I understand that it can be hit or miss with bringing over Japanese RP’s but there have been enough success stories that I’d definitely be willing to give 2/$5+M to a guy who’s throwing 97 MPH. And given how awful the Sox pitching staff was last season… all he’d have to do is Post an ERA under 5.00 and he’d be better than what they had last year. But having said that I really think he looks like a guy who could potentially post a 2.50 type ERA and THAT would be massively beneficial to the Red Sox bullpen.
Probably be overpaying for him on anything more then 3.25 million a year
According to sources sox are nearing an agreement with him
I know this article isn’t about Makita… but looking at his stats in 2018 but then his AAA stats in 2019 I think it’s weird he wasn’t given another shot in 2019. Yeah he struggled in the majors in 2018 but did K more than a batter an inning and then went on to pitch very well in AAA in 2019 and probably should have been given another shot in the majors. instead he then went back to Japan and was once again dominant in relief over there… idk just seems like a missed opportunity for the Padres who were paying him anyway!!
In some of Sawamura’s stat lines in Baseball Reference he is listed playing for Yomiuri in both the Central and Pacific Leagues and Yomiuri is listed in the standings for both Leagues.
Can someone explain this please?
Asia was founded and occupied, in large part, by aliens.
Legal or illegal ?
Sawamura looks like a AAAA reliever to me based on the stats.
97 mph fastball with (what I’m inferring to be) a decent splitter and some kind of slider seems like a good pitch mix.
For the sums that were referenced (1 to 2 mil) could be a really nice inexpensive addition to somebody’s pen.