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Former MLB Players In NPB: Japan Central League

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Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball is targeting a June 19 Opening Day. As is the case with the Korea Baseball Organization, the league has plenty of recognizable names for MLB fans to follow as we await the return of baseball in North America. NPB is larger than the KBO (12 teams vs. 10) and has slightly lesser restrictions on foreign players. As such, I split the “names to watch” rundown into two posts — this one covering the Japan Central League and a prior post on the Japan Pacific League.

Yomiuri Giants (77-64-2 record in 2019):

  • Hisashi Iwakuma, RHP: Perhaps the most well-known player on this list, Iwakuma was a rock in the Mariners’ rotation from 2012-16 before shoulder injuries interrupted a very strong MLB run. He signed with NPB’s Giants in the 2018-19 offseason but was only able to throw two minor league innings last year. Now 39, he’ll take another shot at a return in 2020.
  • Gerardo Parra, OF: The man who brought “Baby Shark” to Nationals Park and celebrated a World Series win last October took an early free-agent deal with the Giants back on Nov. 20. The 33-year-old batted .250/.300/.447 with the Nats last year.
  • Rubby De La Rosa, RHP: Once considered to be among the game’s top pitching prospects, the now 31-year-old De La Rosa had a decent run with the Red Sox and D-backs from 2014-17 before injuries derailed his career. He made his NPB debut with the Giants last year, pitching to a 2.25 ERA with a 32-to-5 K/BB ratio in 24 innings.
  • Angel Sanchez, RHP: Pirates fans are excused if they don’t remember Sanchez’s brief 12-inning cup of coffee from the 2017 season. Sanchez, now 30, had a very promising 2015 between Double-A and Triple-A before his 2016 season was lost to Tommy John surgery. He’s spent the past two years with the KBO’s SK Wyverns, including an impressive 2.62 ERA with 8.1 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in 165 innings in 2019.
  • Thyago Vieira, RHP: The 26-year-old Vieira was an intriguing prospect with the Mariners and White Sox due to his huge fastball velocity, but he was hit hard in 25 2/3 MLB frames and in the upper minors. This will be his first season in Japan.

Yokohama DeNA BayStars (71-69-3):

  • Jose Lopez, 1B: Yes — it’s that Jose Lopez. An All-Star second baseman with the Mariners way back in 2006, Lopez is now 36 years old and a seven-year veteran in NPB. In two seasons with the Giants and five with the BayStars, he’s a .276/.317/.500 hitter with 186 home runs.
  • Spencer Patton, RHP: The 32-year-old hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2016 and has just a 6.26 ERA in 54 frames between the Rangers and Cubs. But Patton has made a name for himself with the BayStars, for whom he pitched to a combined 2.64 ERA in 116 innings from 2017-18. He had a down year in ’19 and will be looking for better health and better results in 2020.
  • Edwin Escobar, LHP: Still just 28, Escobar hasn’t pitched in the Majors since a 2016 cameo with the D-backs. That’s due largely to the success he’s found in Japan, where he’s logged a 3.36 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in three seasons out of the BayStars’ bullpen.
  • Tyler Austin, OF: Austin has shown plenty of power in parts of four MLB seasons, but his strikeouts have limited him to a .219/.292/.451 overall batting line. The former Yankees prospect will be suiting up for the first time in NPB this season.
  • Neftali Soto, INF/OF: The 31-year-old Soto saw all of 44 MLB plate appearances with the Reds in 2013-14, but he’s hit like a star in Japan. In two seasons with the Yokohama club, he’s batted .288/.355/.594 with 84 home runs inn 1043 plate appearances. He’ll be a free agent next year and could potentially draw some MLB interest.

Hanshin Tigers (69-68-6):

  • Kyuji Fujikawa, RHP: The now 39-year-old Fujikawa never took off after signing with the Cubs for the 2013 season. He returned to NPB in 2016 and has regained his status as a high-end reliever with his original club, the Tigers. Fujikawa whiffed 83 hitters and posted a 1.77 ERA in 56 innings last year.
  • Kosuke Fukudome, OF: Another former Cub, Fukudome is still chugging along at 43 years old. He hit .256/.347/.394 in 403 plate appearances with the Tigers last season — his 16th in NPB.
  • Justin Bour, 1B/DH: Bour blasted 92 home runs in a six-year run with the Marlins, Phillies and Angels, but he never hit much upon leaving Miami. His power should play well in his NPB debut this year, and hopefully his “Bourtobello Crushroom” nickname catches on there (even though Bour told Sports Illustrated he’s never actually been called by that nickname, it still appears on his Baseball-Reference page).
  • Jon Edwards, RHP: Edwards, 32, has seen MLB time with the Rangers, Indians and Padres but never cemented himself as a steady contributor. He boasts a 3.08 ERA and 12.4 K/9 in parts of four Triple-A seasons, however. This will be his NPB debut.
  • Onelki Garcia, RHP: Garcia, 30, has just 7 1/3 MLB innings to his name and will return to the Tigers for a second season after struggling to a 4.69 ERA in 103 2/3 frames last year. He did post a strong 2.99 mark with the Chunichi Dragons in 2018.
  • Jefry Marte, 1B/3B: Marte never found his stride in parts of four seasons with the Tigers or Angels from 2015-18, but he posted a .284/.381/.444 slash in his debut effort with Hanshin last season.
  • Jerry Sands, OF: The 32-year-old Sands had a journeyman career in the U.S. but hit at star levels in the Korea Baseball Organization over the past two seasons: .306/.391/.574. He signed with Hanshin this winter and will be making his NPB debut.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp (70-70-3):

  • Kris Johnson, LHP: Johnson, 35, barely got a look with the Pirates or Twins, but he’s been one of Japan’s best pitchers over the past half decade. In five seasons, all with the Carp, he has a combined 2.54 ERA with averages of seven strikeouts and three walks per nine innings.
  • DJ Johnson, RHP: This will be the first NPB season for Johnson, who posted a 4.88 ERA in 31 2/3 innings with the Rockies over the past couple of seasons. As an undrafted player who has also spent time on the indie circuit, the 30-year-old Johnson is cultivating quite the unique baseball career.
  • Tayler Scott, RHP: The second South African-born player to make it to the big leagues — Gift Ngoepe was the first — Scott was hit hard in 16 1/3 frames between the Mariners and Orioles last year. However, the 28-year-old also tossed 16 frames with just one run allowed and a 21-to-3 K/BB ratio with the Orioles’ Triple-A club in ’19.
  • Jose Pirela, OF: Pirela hit well in a half season with the Padres back in 2017, but he’s struggled in the Majors outside that run. He was never able to win the second base gig in San Diego and was lost in the shuffle of their crowded outfield mix. Pirela brings a career .257/.308/.392 MLB slash to his debut season in Japan, but he’s a .311/.362/.493 hitter in Triple-A.

Chunichi Dragons (68-73-2):

  • Dayan Viciedo, 1B: White Sox fans surely remember “The Tank” from his 2010-14 stretch with the South Siders, but he never blossomed into the star they hoped he could. Vicideo hit .254/.298/.424 in just shy of 1800 MLB plate appearances, but he’s a .303/.372/.502 hitter in four seasons as a Dragon.
  • Moises Sierra, OF: Speaking of former White Sox outfielders, Sierra’s run with the ChiSox was much more brief than that of Viciedo. He played 83 games there and 207 total in the big leagues from 2012-18, hitting .235/.287/.362 in the process. Sierra posted outrageous numbers in the Mexican League last year (.355/.464/.572) and will make his NPB debut in 2020.
  • Enny Romero, LHP: Romero pitched quite well for the 2017 Nats but has otherwise struggled in the Majors. He spent most of last season in the Dragons’ rotation, pitching to a 4.26 ERA through 116 1/3 frames.
  • Zoilo Almonte, OF: The 30-year-old Almonte never caught on with the Yankees despite a long look in their farm system, but he’s broken out with the Chunichi club in NPB. In two prior seasons, Almonte is a .323/.372/.491 hitter.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows (59-82-2):

  • Nori Aoki, OF: Aoki may be 38 years old, but he’s still a productive hitter. In 565 plate appearances with the Swallows in 2019, he batted .297/.385/.442 with 16 long balls. That’s more power than he showed in MLB, but his six-year run in the Majors was still quite solid: .285/.350/.387, 10.5 WAR.
  • Alcides Escobar, SS: Aoki’s former Royals teammate will join him for his debut NPB campaign once play resumes in two weeks. The 33-year-old Escobar’s bat tailed off dramatically in his final big league seasons, but he’s a former All-Star, Gold Glove winner and World Series champion.
  • Gabriel Ynoa, RHP: A longtime Mets farmhand, the 27-year-old Ynoa never found much success in the Majors (5.39 ERA in 163 2/3 innings). Ynoa soaked up 110 innings for a disastrous Orioles pitching staff in 2019, but he’ll hope to make more of an impact in his NPB debut.
  • Matt Koch, RHP: Koch, 29, never found his footing in four years with the D-backs or even in Triple-A, but he threw well up through the Double-A level in his career.
  • Scott McGough, RHP: The 30-year-old McGough has just 6 2/3 innings in the Majors, all with the 2015 Marlins, but he was sharp for Yakult in 2019, pitching to a 3.15 ERA with nearly a strikeout per frame in 68 2/3 innings of relief.
  • Albert Suarez, RHP: Once a Rule 5 pick by the Giants, Suarez also saw some time with the Yakult club last season, logging a 1.54 ERA in 17 2/3 frames. He also spent time with their minor league club, but he’ll hope to establish himself further in 2020.
  • Ryota Igarashi, RHP: The 41-year-old Igarashi’s time with the Mets, Yankees and Blue Jays in 2010-12 was ugly, but he’s been a consistently strong bullpen presence in a whopping 17 NPB seasons. Last year’s 2.98 ERA in 42 1/3 frames was a near-match with his 2.93 career mark, although his 5.1 BB/9 mark was a bit of a red flag.

Tayler Scott To Sign With NPB’s Hiroshima Carp

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The Hiroshima Carp of the NPB have announced the signing of righty Tayler Scott, as relayed in a tweet from Patrick Newman of NPBtracker.com (link). Scott, who is expected to serve in middle relief with the Carp, will receive a $525K salary and a $175K signing bonus.

A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, Scott made his MLB debut in 2019 with the Mariners after a seven-year minor league career in the Cubs, Brewers, and Rangers orgs. A rough sample of appearances (9.39 ERA in 7.2 innings) foreshadowed his placement on waivers, where he was scooped up by the pitching-needy Orioles.

Things went even more poorly in Baltimore, unfortunately, with the 27-year-old allowing 18 earned runs in 8.2 innings of relief. Still, the 6’3 righty has managed a 3.86 ERA over the course of his minor league career, armed with a sinking fastball that sits around 94 mph and a slider that elicited a respectable 36.1 percent whiff rate in Scott’s brief MLB tenure.

Orioles Claim Pat Valaika, Announce Four Outrights

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The Orioles announced they have claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Rockies. Additionally, the club outrighted four pitchers: right-handers Ryan Eades, Luis Ortiz, and Tayler Scott and left-hander Josh Rogers.

Valaika is the most notable name in today’s spate of transactions. The 27-year-old has taken 433 MLB plate appearances over four seasons in Colorado, starting games at all four infield positions (along with a handful of action in left field) in that time. All told, he’s only a .214/.256/.400 hitter, which translates to a dreadful 55 wRC+ when factoring in the run environment of Coors Field. He’s shown some ability to make hard, airborne contact, which surely attracts the Orioles’ front office, but his aggressive approach has not yet proven up to par at the big league level. Valaika will be out of options next season, meaning he needs to stick on the active roster next year or else again be exposed to waivers, assuming he remains on the 40-man roster the entire offseason.

The four pitchers have combined for fewer than 60 MLB innings. Eades, 27, worked to a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings in 2019, but his peripherals were far less rosy. Ortiz, still just 24, was once a well-regarded prospect but has fallen on hard times at the highest level of the minors. He started 14 games for Triple-A Norfolk in 2019 and pitched to a 6.38 ERA with unimpressive strikeout (15.4%) and walk (10.1%) rates, a trying season even in the explosive run environment in the International League.

Scott, like Eades, made his MLB debut this season at age-27. Split between Seattle and Baltimore, he worked 16.1 difficult innings, although he was quite good in the high minors. Rogers, meanwhile, was acquired as a secondary piece in the 2018 deal that sent Zack Britton to the Yankees. He started eleven games for Norfolk before going down with a season-ending left elbow sprain.

Because Rogers was on the 60-day injured list, today’s spate of transactions only clears two spots on Balitmore’s 40-man roster, which now sits at 38. The pending activation of Alex Cobb from the 60-day IL and free agency of Mark Trumbo will keep Baltimore’s roster at 38 entering the offseason, as Roch Kubatko of MASN tweets.

Orioles Place Dylan Bundy On Injured List

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The Orioles placed starting pitcher Dylan Bundy on the 10-day injured list with right knee tendinitis, the team announced today. Pitcher Tayler Scott was recalled from Triple-A.

Bundy underwent a medical exam this morning after feeling discomfort during yesterday’s shellacking at the hands of the Rays, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. Bundy and the Orioles will sleep better chalking this one up to the injury after Bundy suffered through an 8-hit, 7-run barrage in his shortest outing of the year. He was pulled after one inning. The cavalry didn’t fare much better against the Rays, as Gabriel Ynoa wore the damage a day before they’d planned to use him in a piggyback role. Ynoa was ultimately tagged with 9 runs, 7 earned in 5 1/3 innings.

Bundy took the loss, falling to 4-11 on the year. In 18 starts, Bundy has a 5.28 ERA (5.30 FIP) with a 3.03 strikeout to walk ratio while lobbing 2.1 home runs per nine innings. His numbers took a hit with yesterday’s loss, of course, but the overall numbers aren’t far off what the Orioles have come used to seeing out of Bundy.

Scott, 27, is recalled for the first time since being acquired from the Mariners. He made two starts and three bullpen appearances in Seattle, serving up 10 earned runs in just 7 2/3 innings of work. The South African native was a 5th round draft pick of the Cubs in 2011. David Hess, meanwhile, will serve as the 26th man for today’s doubleheader, a role with which he is by now quite familiar.

Orioles Claim Tayler Scott, Designate Sean Gilmartin

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The Orioles have claimed right-hander Tayler Scott off waivers from the Mariners and designated left-hander Sean Gilmartin for assignment in order to open a 40-man roster spot, per a club announcement. Scott has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.

The South African-born Scott, 27, made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2019, pitching 7 2/3 innings but yielding eight earned runs on 11 hits and six walks with seven strikeouts. Scott’s bottom-line numbers in Triple-A aren’t much more appealing — 6.43 ERA in 35 innings — but he’s posted a 57 percent grounder rate across his past two Triple-A campaigns and averages roughly 95 mph on his sinker. That, it seems, piqued the interest of the new-look Orioles front office. Because Scott only just had his contract selected for the first time in 2019, he has all three minor league option years remaining (2019 included).

Gilmartin, 29, yielded five runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout across 2 1/3 innings in his lone start for the O’s. The former first-round pick was once a fairly well-regarded pitching prospect but hasn’t found much MLB success outside a solid 2015 rookie season with the Mets when he was a Rule 5 pick out of the Twins organization. In 107 2/3 innings in the big leagues, Gilmartin has a 4.18 ERA with 7.1 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 (5.90 ERA in 50 1/3 frames from 2016-19). He’s struggled throughout much of his time in Triple-A as well, though he did give the Orioles’ top affiliate 36 1/3 sharp innings this year prior to his selection to the MLB roster. The O’s will have a week to trade Gilmartin or run him through outright waivers.

Mariners Place Mitch Haniger On IL, Select Tayler Scott

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The Mariners announced today that outfielder Mitch Haniger has been placed on the 10-day injured list. He has been diagnosed with a ruptured testicle, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets.

That’s obviously not a run-of-the-mill injury for a ballplayer, though unfortunately it’s also not unheard of. There is no indication at this point how long Haniger will be sidelined.

In happier news, the M’s have selected the contract of righty Tayler Scott, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier on Twitter. Scott, 27, carries a 5.88 ERA with a 44:19 K/BB ratio in 33 2/3 innings over 19 appearances at Triple-A this year. He’ll make his MLB debut after signing a minors deal with the Seattle organization over the winter.

Scott was a 2011 fifth-round draft pick who spent time in high school in the states, but he’s a born-and-bred South African. He’ll become the first player from an African nation to pitch in the big leagues; infielder Gift Ngoepe previously became the first such player to appear in the majors.

West Notes: Ohtani, CarGo, Scott

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As Shohei Ohtani settles into his first MLB camp, the Angels are keeping close tabs on his workload, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. It’s all still being sorted on the fly, but there are also some “objective” standards in place, including limits on the volume and timing of Ohtani’s swings of the bat. There are dichotomies aplenty for the hurler/slugger, including the impressions of team personnel such as hitting coach Eric Hinske (“uncharted waters”) and manager Mike Scioscia (“don’t know it’s anything that isn’t happening with other players”).

  • The Rockies miss Carlos Gonzalez “really badly,” third baseman Nolan Arenado tells Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Gonzalez’s presence in the clubhouse was clearly seen as a big positive by Arenado and others. Indeed, the young star was not shy in advocating for a reunion with the veteran former star. That has long seemed a possibility, but not a priority, and there’s no indication at this point that there’s any movement toward a deal. Coming into the winter, Gonzalez seemed likely to command a fairly sizable commitment on a one-year term, reflecting his streaky recent track record but also his long-recognized status as a high-end hitter. But the market has been particularly unkind to non-premium position players, so it’s really anyone’s guess at this point what kind of guarantee CarGo will be able to secure and what team it will be with.
  • Rangers righty Tayler Scott lost out on the race to be the first African-born person to play in the majors when fellow South African Gift Ngoepe hit the bigs last year. But Scott tells MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan that he still has his sights set on “the title of being the first South African pitcher.” The dedication certainly seems to be there. Baseball obviously remains a niche sport in his homeland, so Scott and his family relocated to the United States while he was in high school. Now 25, Scott has yet to master the upper minors but will be jockeying for position in camp with the Texas organization, which acquired him as part of last summer’s Jeremy Jeffress swap.

Brewers Acquire Jeremy Jeffress

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The Brewers have struck a deal to acquire righty Jeremy Jeffress from the Rangers, as ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick first reported (via Twitter). The move reverses the reliever’s move this time last year, when he headed to Texas from Milwaukee along with Jonathan Lucroy. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets that the Rangers will receive righty Tayler Scott in return.

The 29-year-old Jeffress returns to the organization that drafted him in the first round in 2006, and for whom he played in 2010 and 2014-16. (He saved 27 games for the Brewers last season, although he doesn’t seem likely to now supplant Corey Knebel as the Brewers’ closer this year.) Jeffress hasn’t been the pitcher this season that he was in that second Brewers stint, however — in 40 2/3 innings with Texas this year, he’s posted a 5.31 ERA, 6.4 K/9 and an ugly 4.2 BB/9. He has, however, maintained mid-90s velocity, and the Brewers likely hope he returns to some version of his prior self as he gets a change of scenery. If he does, they can control him for two more years after this one through the arbitration process.

Scott, 25, had a 2.34 ERA with a strong 9.2 K/9 but a too-high 5.1 BB/9 in 61 2/3 innings of relief this season at Double-A Biloxi. He was a fifth-round pick of the Cubs in 2011, but Chicago released him last year, then signed a minor-league deal with the Brewers after a brief stint in independent ball. He did not rank in MLB.com’s list of the Brewers’ top 30 prospects.

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