The Phillies have signed former NPB pitcher Koyo Aoyagi to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to MLB camp, the team announced. The Hanshin Tigers made him available via the posting system on December 4.
Aoyagi’s posting window would have closed this evening. Had he not signed with a major league team, he would’ve returned to the Tigers. Aoyagi preferred a non-roster invite over staying with the NPB club. It’s unclear what his salary would be if he makes the major league roster. The Phils would owe a 20% posting fee to the Tigers on whatever salary or bonuses Aoyagi unlocks.
The 31-year-old righty projects as a depth arm. While he worked as a starting pitcher for the Tigers, Aoyagi throws from a sidearm slot that’s more commonly found in the bullpen. He’s coming off a pedestrian season which he split almost evenly between the Tigers and their minor league affiliate. Aoyagi made 12 starts at Japan’s top level and pitched 11 times in the minors.
During his work at the highest level, he turned in a 3.69 ERA across 61 innings. His 13% strikeout rate would be nearly 10 percentage points below the MLB average. He showed decent but not exceptional control, walking 7.8% of batters faced. His career track record is a bit more impressive. He owns a 3.08 ERA with a 17.1% strikeout percentage across nine NPB campaigns. This was his second consecutive middling season, though. Aoyagi was tagged for a 4.57 ERA across 100 1/3 innings for the Tigers in 2023.
The 5’11” hurler pitched for Japan at the 2020 Olympics (held in Tokyo a year late as a result of the pandemic). Japan went 5-0 and won the gold medal, though Aoyagi was tagged for five runs in 1 2/3 innings across two appearances. He did not make the nation’s World Baseball Classic roster two years later.
THE PHILLIES HAVE SIGNED A NPB PLAYER!
Ahhhh jays missed another one.
Its kinda hard convince a player to come and play for a bad team
not the japanese superstar pitcher philly was expecting
but could turn out to be decent
Don’t you mean the Dodgers signed him?
Wow their first since those 2 guys from the 00’s Iguchi and Tadaguchi I think?
Time to look him up @bball-ref
Looks like a 30yr old SP w/o K stuff? Better than a stick in the eye I guess…..
Tadahito Iguchi is one guy, maybe the other guy you were thinking of was So Taguchi. He played for the Phils in 00’s.
Checked last night.
Iguchi was a good 2b platoon bat in ’07 and had a cup ‘o coffee in ’08.
Taguchi was a defensive replacement OF in ’08 who was on the WS roster but did not get in….
Funny story, there was a guy running around Philly claiming to be So Taguchi and drinking for free for months back in the late 00’s. No one knew what he looked like so the gimmick worked for a while. Semi hilarious.
Announce Shintaro Fujinami to the M’s; biggest announcement of the day
They did a few hours ago. Easy to lose it amongst the numerous stories though.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/01/mariners-sign-shintaro-…
Called the minor league deal. I think he will be like Uwasawa or Arihara, but best of luck to him.
Who was the last Japanese player on the Phil’s major-league roster? Was it the mighty Tad Iguchi? I can’t recall.
All Japanese players are now retroactively dodgers
They are all undercover Dodger agents. There are plants on every team to ensure the results of the upcoming season. * Puts tinfoil hat on *
@cdpoet called it. It’s either Tad Iguchi or So Taguchi.
They won the World Series that season. So consider this an omen.
BDDD making moves! Lets go Phils!
More of a depth piece at age 31, but good signing anyway. Depth is always needed..
If it decreases the chances of seeing Walker on the mound, it’s a good move.
Stick it Doyers!!!
Next year Shosei Togo probably will asked to get posted. Dude was fun to watch in Kyojin this couple years, lot of ground balls, less K but still a good pitcher. And since he was born in April 4 2000, he will be 26 by the time Opening Day 2026.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=togo–000sho
His stat
2024
12-8 26 GS 180 IP 156 K 1.95 ERA
2023
12-5 24 GS 170 IP 141 K 2.38 ERA
2022
12-8 25 GS 171.2 IP 154 K 2.62 ERA
Yomiuri isn’t likely to post him, so he likely won’t be coming over for another 2-3 seasons
Do the Dodgers know about this?
THE DODGERS ARE RUINING BASEBALL!!!
whoops, wrong thread…
Phils have been working hard to crack open that pipeline to Asia for quite a while now with little to no success. And it will never be close to an even playing field, due to geography and demographics. But as more Japanese and Korean players look for success over here, we should have a shot at one every now and then if we keep the door open.
In the meantime they need to double down in Latin America, which is much more accessible.
Thats why i wrote “Next year Shosei Togo probably will ask Yomiuri to post him”
Of course the Kyojin doesnt want that to happen. Their SP corps last year is bad, so bad they sign Masahiro Tanaka whos number in 2023 are 7-11 24GS and 4.91 ERA . 2024 He only start 5 games before getting injured
He’ll hate Philly…our China town sucks.
(sarcasm)