International Notes: Scheppers, Wakui
As the open market standstill continues here in North America, some notes out of Japan that have some minor big league implications…
- In a move that flew under our radar here at MLBTR, right-hander Tanner Scheppers signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball midway through January, the team announced at the time. The longtime Rangers righty has appeared in each of the past six seasons with Texas, totaling 183 innings with a 4.23 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. Elbow issues cost him much of the 2014 season, though, and he’s since been slowed by ankle and knee injuries. Overall, Scheppers has tossed just 12 2/3 innings in the Majors across the past two seasons.
- Right-hander Hideaki Wakui — a free-agent right-hander known to have interest in exploring a possible move to the Major Leagues — has re-signed with the Marines, the team announced this week (via the Japan Times). The 31-year-old won the 2009 Sawamura Award in Japan (the NPB’s Cy Young equivalent) but isn’t coming off one of his best seasons, having pitched to the second-highest ERA of his career in 2017 (3.99). Wakui has been both a closer and a starter but has made at least 25 starts in each of the past four seasons. Wakui has a career 3.45 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in more than 2000 innings as a pro in Japan. The Marines announced that he’s returning on a one-year deal, so it’s possible that he could gauge interest from MLB clubs once again next winter.
Right-Hander Hideaki Wakui Could Explore MLB Opportunities In Free Agency
Right-hander Hideaki Wakui‘s contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines expires at season’s end, and the veteran righty could pursue his dream of pitching in the Major Leagues this offseason, per a report from the Japan Times. Wakui has spent 13 seasons pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and is 31 years old (32 next June), meaning he’d easily meet both the age and experience requirements to be exempt from international bonus pools.
Wakui isn’t coming off his best season, having tossed 158 innings with a 3.99 ERA, 6.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9, but he has a lengthy track record of success and won NPB’s Sawamura Award (Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award) back in 2009. That season, he posted a minuscule 2.30 ERA with a 199-to-76 K/BB ratio in 211 2/3 frames. That was quite some time ago — Wakui was just 23 then — but he posted a 3.01 ERA in 188 2/3 frames as recently as 2016 and has a lifetime 3.45 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in 2061 professional innings in NPB.
While it’s not yet known whether Wakui has made a firm decision, one club exec from Japan tells the Times: “We’ve known how he has always felt (about wanting to play in the majors). He’s an indispensable player to the team but he does have the right (to declare free agency) and it is his dream.”
Wakui is the latest in a growing class of free-agent arms to at least monitor as they weigh a possible run at international free agency. Ace/slugger Shohei Otani rightly draws the majority of the headlines, but closer Yoshihisa Hirano and former big leaguer starter Miles Mikolas have also had plenty of success in NPB and could well pursue MLB contracts this offseason.