The Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball have posted right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa for Major League teams, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The Fighters announced in October that they would honor the 29-year-old righty’s wishes to be posted. Like Yokohama BayStars left-hander Shota Imanaga, who was also formally posted today, Uwasawa’s 45-day posting window will now kick off tomorrow morning.
Uwasawa, who’ll turn 30 in January, logged 170 innings of 2.96 ERA ball this past season, albeit with a sub-par 17.8% strikeout rate that could temper some enthusiasm. His career mark of 19.7% is a bit better but still not the type of rate that generally catches they eyes of MLB front offices in a market that heavily rewards power arms with swing-and-miss stuff. Uwasawa does sport a sharp 7.5% walk rate in his career, including a particularly impressive 5.9% mark this past season.
Back in September, MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted that Uwasawa’s fastball velocity on the year was averaging 90.8 mph. Paired with his pedestrian strikeout rate, that lack of velocity will give Major League teams some trepidation about how he’ll stack up against MLB opposition. The average MLB fastball among starting pitchers in 2023 was 93.8 mph — 94.2 mph if focusing in solely on right-handed starters.
Of course, that doesn’t entirely rule out success. Kyle Hendricks sat at an average of 87.8 mph with his “heater” this past season, while fellow righties like Bryce Elder (90.7 mph), Dane Dunning (90.6 mph) and Kenta Maeda (91 mph) were all in the same general vicinity as Uwasawa over the course of generally successful seasons. The majority of right-handed starters who sat in this range struggled, but as with all rules, there are exceptions. Uwasawa could well prove to be such an exception, and his broader track record in Japan could still pique some team’s interest — particularly if (as is expected) his price tag is considerably lower than the other, higher-profile NPB arms who are being posted.
In parts of nine NPB seasons, Uwasawa has amassed 1118 1/3 innings of 3.19 ERA ball with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. He’s been particularly effective in recent years, compiling a 3.08 ERA over his past six NPB seasons. He made the NPB All-Star team in both 2021 and 2023. Uwasawa also tossed two shutouts and averaged better than seven innings per season this year.
If Uwasawa indeed finds a big league contract this offseason, any team signing him will owe a posting/release fee to the Fighters — his former club. The MLB/NPB posting system stipulates that in addition to the money paid to the player himself, his new team must pay a release fee to the former club that is equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM, plus 15% of any money thereafter.
an inverse fujinami, which actually profiles a lot better for the mlb
7 innings per season this year?
Damn, I hope some team pays a premium for those 7 yearly innings.
Chris Sale has entered the chat
They should post the name Ham Fighters for MLB use.
I was going to say that. Almost as epic as Cleveland Spiders
Except that’s not the name, just like it’s not the “Bay Rays” of Tampa.
I fought the ham, and the ham won.
Love the Ham Fighters name.
I know it’s not the Ham fighter’s, but in my mind that would be a great team name. The mascot would be Homer Simpson’s spider pig from their movie
Ham in Japanese is Foo.
Probably
Every sport would clamor for a Ham. LA Hams. Ham United. Where would it end?
Vogelbach could be the mascot
Uwasawa is listed as 6′ 11″ 194 pounds, he doesn’t have a small frame so he’s got that going for him. A pitcher-friendly ballpark and with a good defense would be a good landing spot for him.
Giants were all in until you mentioned good defense.
If Crawford was in his prime, he’d be providing great defense at shortstop but you had mentioned at one point in another post, that Kapler had Joc out in the field, that is just not going to fly for providing defense. You guys need some upgrades around the field, not just starters.
If he’s 6’11’’, he’s already a Giant!
He wishes he were 6’11”
A 6’11 194 lb man? I’d hope he doesn’t have a small frame…
He’s Japan’s tallest man! My mistake added an extra one. He’s 6′ 1″
6’1″ or 185.5 CM
I’ve always been curious: Why would you fight a ham?
Unless that’s sarcasm, which it quite possibly is, Fighters is the team name. They aren’t fighting ham, per se. Though if it’s a generalized fighter, I suppose they could fight anything they wanted.
Nippon Ham was the food processing company that the team got the name from
pls dont take this fun away
@Rickey Ham is probably short for hamsters, which are aggressive in that part of the world.
I fought the ham, and the ham won.
Again they do NOT fight against the hams, they use the hams to fight with (as a weapon)
It’s a play on an old song. Substitute “law” for “ham” and look it up.
Clash version.
no need to look it up. i saw what you did there & loved it.
signed tommy james & Joe strummer
Astros I am BEGGING you to sign a starting pitcher
I thought the ham fighters were those ladies with whoopi
Same thing
Teams in love with the radar gun may not give this guy a second look but his walk rate would have me looking.
He’ll be lucky to get an offer of 3/$21M and that could end up being a severe overpay. History does not reflect well on NPB pitchers with low K rates and fastballs well below the MLB average, especially RHP. Uehara was certainly an exception to this rule (velocity-wise) but his splitter was untouchable. It doesn’t sound like this guy has a single swing and miss pitch in his arsenal. I guess we’ll find out if he’s able to sign an MLB deal.
I absolutely love pitch to contact guys when they are on their games. A couple of ground balls and a flyout can get an inning over quickly, keep the defense alert, and is quite frankly fun to watch.
But there will be those games when it is hard contact and gets ugly.
Japanese Keuchel?
According to Rob Friedman, Uwasawa and Takahashi have been working out with Driveline Baseball. Takahashi increased from 147.3 km/h average in 2022 to 152.6 km/h average in 2023 with his top pitches over 157 km/h. A similar progression for Uwasawa takes him from his 2023 average of 146.1 km/h to closer to 150 km/h or about MLB average with his FB.
In my opinion he would be a great addition as a #4-#5 starter for most MLB teams with a higher upside because of his command. Certainly more cost effective with a better upside than Gibson and Lynn.
He has a lot less certainty than either Lynn or Gibson though. Like it or not, the Cardinals wanted relative certainty this year after the volatility of last year’s rotation.
He also has a lot more upside than either Lynn or Gibson. What the Cardinals wanted was innings eaten and both Lynn and Gibson will do that even if its at 4.50-5.00 ERA.
He averages 90 mph on his fastball and doesn’t have good strikeout numbers. I’m not saying he can’t be successful, but unless he’s an outlier, he does not offer a lot of upside. The only upside you’re talking about is in relation to him being an unknown whereas Gibson and Lynn are “known”. The Cardinals wanted “known”.
All that said, I do genuinely hope that Uwasawa is a success here. I’m happy to root for guys without elite stuff. I like Kansas City for him with their big ball park and young talented defense and a low pressure environment.
See my original comment. He won’t be at 90.8 MPH to start 2024.
I unsarcastically hope that is true.
Wow so many experts on here who have probably never seen him pitch even once
I watch all his games. I am his conjoined twin.
I guess for a borderline case this is the year to try to do it. A lot of teams in the market for SP and the 2025 FA SP class is much better so the timing is right.
Chances are that next offseason the same number of teams will be looking for starting pitching and the 2025 is not going to be as deep. Uwasawa is going into his age 30 season and its not likely he will get a better chance to sign on in MLB than this year. In baseball, older does not equal better after 30.