Anderson Espinoza Re-Signs With NPB’s Orix Buffaloes

Right-hander Anderson Espinoza has re-signed with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball on a two-year deal worth roughly $6MM, according to a report from Swing Completo’s Victor Briceno (h/t to Yakyu Cosmopolitan). 2025 will be Espinoza’s second year with the Buffaloes in NPB.

Espinoza, 26, made his pro debut with the Red Sox back in 2015 after signing as an international free agent out of Venezuela. He quickly emerged as one of the league’s top up-and-coming pitching talents as he was consistently rated as a top-20 prospect in the sport, and was traded from Boston to San Diego in the Drew Pomeranz trade back in 2016. Unfortunately, Espinoza promptly fell victim to the injury bug and did not throw another pitch in the minor leagues for four years due to multiple Tommy John surgeries and the cancelled 2020 minor league season.

In 2021, Espinoza finally made his way back to the minor league mound and was traded to the Cubs in a deal that sent Jake Marisnick to the Padres. Espinoza struggled badly at the minor league level during his time in the Cubs organization, posting ERAs north of 5.00 at every stop on his journey, but that didn’t stop the rebuilding club from giving Espinoza his first look in the big leagues during the 2022 season, seven years after he first threw a professional pitch. That cup of coffee saw him pitch to a 5.40 ERA in 18 1/3 multi-inning relief appearances, though he was eventually cut from the club’s roster and headed to minor league free agency the following offseason.

2023 saw Espinoza return to the Padres organization on a minor league deal, and he moved back into the rotation after his stint in the bullpen with Chicago. Espinoza’s results at Triple-A El Paso were ugly, as he struggled to a 6.15 ERA in 131 2/3 innings of work that was well below average even for the inflated offensive environment found in the Pacific Coast League. He struck out just 19.3% of opponents while walking 12%, and he once again headed into free agency last winter with his future uncertain.

That led Espinoza to take a deal with the Buffaloes back in January, and his move overseas could hardly have gone better. In 22 Pacific League starts for the club this year, Espinoza was utterly dominant with a 2.63 ERA in 133 2/3 innings of work. The right-hander’s 20.5% strikeout rate wasn’t especially extraordinary, but he managed to cut his walk rate to a much more manageable just 8.7% while averaging just over six innings per start during his time in NPB this year.

That’s likely a strong enough performance that Espinoza, who is still just 26 years old, could have received some level of interest in stateside ball this winter. Rather than pursue a minor league deal in MLB, however, the right-hander instead took the Buffaloes up on their offer to return on a deal that not only provides him multi-year security for the first time in his career but also figures to pay him more handsomely than any offers on this side of the pond  would have. With that being said, if Espinoza can continue to put up strong numbers in Japan over the next two years it’s not hard to imagine him then considering a move back to MLB as a number of pitchers who went overseas such as Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde have done in the past.