Nationals Sign Shinnosuke Ogasawara – MLB Trade Rumors

The Nationals announced they have signed the left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara to a two-year deal. Financial details of the pact for the WME Baseball client have not yet been publicly reported. Left-handed Joe la Sorsa was identified for assignment in a corresponding step.

The 27-year-old Ogasawara played part of nine seasons for the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He pitched 951 1/3 innings and allowed 3.62 earned runs per nine. He struck out 18.9% of batters while issuing walks at a 7.7% clip.

Despite pretty decent run prevention, there are also some worrying elements to Ogasawara’s profile. His strikeout rate in Japan is slightly below what Heuller expects in North America, as the league average has been in the 22-23% range in recent seasons. He’s also a bit undersized, listed at 5’11 and 183 pounds. This size is not necessarily a disqualification as it actually makes him taller than Shota Imanagawho is 5’10” and 175. Imanaga proved capable of working MLB hitters in 2024, but he also had a 25% strikeout rate in his NPB career before crossing over, notably higher than Ogasawara.

It’s also a metric that has fluctuated for Ogasawara. He got his rate of punchouts 24% in 2022, but then it dropped to 20.1% the year later and then fell back to 13.6% last season. This big drop in strikeouts coincided with a minuscule 3.7% walk rate and he still managed to post a 3.12 ERA, but it leads to questions about how his stuff will play in his new surroundings.

More are coming.