The Washington Nationals took a walk on the wild side by signing a pitcher that seldom walks many. Shinnosuke Ogasawara, 27, also has a 54-72 career record, doesn’t throw very hard, and had a losing record in seven of nine pro seasons in Japan.

Nevertheless, General Manager Mike Rizzo told reporters that he believes the left-hander is “big league ready.”

Ogasawara got a two-year, $3.5 million contract last week as the first free agent in team history to be signed from Japan. He is expected to compete for a job in the rotation behind MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin and Michael Soroka. His chief competition is expected to come from nine-year MLB veteran Trevor Williams and second-year men DJ Herz, Mitchell Parker and Jackson Rutledge.

“This is the deepest starting pitching staff we’ve had in a long time in the upper minor leagues and major leagues,” Rizzo said. “We think we go nine or 10 deep now, which is something that we’ve been trying to get to for years.

“You never have enough starting pitching. That is the driver of success in the big leagues.”

Rizzo said the club had scouted Ogasawara for a few years and likes the soft tosser’s ability to throw strikes. The lefty walked only 1.4 batters per nine innings in 2024, when he had a 3.12 earned run average but only a 5-11 record for the Chunichi Dragons.

Ogasawara turned pro at age 18. He has relied on a fastball/changeup mix and occasionally throws a curveball that has been timed at under 70 mph. The fastball averages 89 to 91 mph, but he has shown the ability to place it where he wants in the strike zone.

Two decades ago, Jamie Moyer baffled batters with slow stuff. The lefty’s fastball averaged 82 mph when he had a 21-7 record at age 40 for the 2003 Seattle Mariners. He also threw a 77 mph cutter and 73 mph changeup, both with movement. He pitched until age 49.

Ogasawara’s best season was 2022, when he went 10-8 with a 2.72 ERA, 140 strikeouts and only 40 walks. Rizzo believes the 5-foot-11, 180-pound pitcher can do better.

“Part of the attractiveness to him is that he’s not a finished product,” Rizzo said. “There’s still some development that he could learn from and become a better pitcher than he even is now.”

Japanese Pitchers In MLB

There are 11 players from Japan returning in 2025 to MLB rosters. Nine of them are pitchers, including two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He did not pitch in 2024 as he recovered from Tommy John Surgery.

The others: Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui, San Diego Padres; Shintaro Fujinami, Seattle Mariners; Shota Imanaga, Chicago Cubs; Yusei Kikuchi, Los Angeles Angels, Kenta Maeda, Detroit Tigers; Kodai Senga, New York Mets; Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers.

The Dodgers recently signed prized prospect Roki Sasaki to a $6.5 million contract and the Baltimore Orioles signed Tomoyuki Sugano in December to a one-year, $13 million deal.

Ichiro The Exception

Last week, former outfielder Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Most of the 70 other Japanese players in MLB history have been pitchers, starting with Masanori Murakami in 1964.

The right-hander pitched in 54 games for the San Francisco Giants before returning to Japan after the 1965 season at age 22. He had a 5-1 record, 3.43 ERA and 9 saves. Murakami went on to pitch 566 games in Japan until 1982, going 103-82 overall.

It would be 30 years before MLB got another Japanese player. Hideo Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995 and was the NL Rookie of the Year with a 13-6 record. Overall in America, he worked in 324 games for seven teams through 2008, twice pitching no-hitters.

In 2000, Kazuhiro Sasaki won the AL Rookie of the Year Award at age 32 with the Seattle Mariners after earning 37 saves. He totaled 129 saves over four MLB seasons.

Now, Roki Sasaki, no relation, is an early favorite to be the NL’s top rookie in 2025.

Tomo Ohka To Washington

The only Japanese pitcher to previously play for the Nationals was Tomo Ohka in 2005. He went to Washington when the Montreal Expos moved there that year.

Ohka pitched parts of four seasons for the Yokohama Bay Stars before the Boston Red Sox purchased his contract. He had a spectacular debut in Boston’s farm system in 1999, going 15-0 with a 2.32 ERA in 24 games.

In 33 games over parts of three seasons for Boston, Ohka was barely okay. He had only a 6-13 record and was dealt to Montreal at the trading deadline in 2001. His best season was 2002: a 13-8 record and 3.18 ERA.

In one year with Washington, he went 4-3, then pitched for Milwaukee, Toronto and Cleveland before finishing his career back in Japan.

The Nationals are hopeful that throwing strikes with a limited arsenal will lead to more success for Shinnosuke Ogasawara.