A total of 71 Japanese-born [1] [2] players have played in at least one Major League Baseball (MLB) game. Of these players, twelve are on existing MLB rosters. The first instance of a Japanese player playing in MLB occurred in 1964, when the Nankai Hawks, a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team, sent three exchange prospects to the United States to gain experience in MLB's minor league system. One of the players, pitcher Masanori Murakami, was named the California League Rookie of the Year while playing for the Fresno Giants (the San Francisco Giants' Class-A team). Giants executives were impressed with his talent and on September 1, 1964, Murakami was promoted, thus becoming the first Japanese player to play in MLB, as well as being the first Asian player. [3] After Murakami put up good pitching statistics as a reliever, Giants executives sought to exercise a clause in their contract with the Hawks that, they claimed, allowed them to buy up an exchange prospect's contract. NPB officials objected, stating that they had no intention of selling Murakami's contract to the Giants and telling them that Murakami was merely on loan for the 1964 season. After a two-month stalemate the Giants eventually agreed to send Murakami back to the Hawks after the 1965 season. This affair led to the 1967 United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement, also known as the "Working Agreement", between MLB and NPB, which was basically a hands-off policy. [4] [5]
For thirty years Murakami was the only Japanese player to appear in an MLB game. Pitcher Hideo Nomo, with the help of agent Don Nomura, became the second Japanese player to play in MLB in 1995. Nomo, who was not yet eligible for free agency in Japan, was advised by Nomura that a "voluntary retirement" clause in the Working Agreement did not specify that a player wishing to play again after retiring must return to NPB. Nomo utilized this loophole to void his NPB contract with the Kintetsu Buffaloes and play in MLB. He announced his retirement from NPB in late 1994 and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in February 1995. [6] Nomo's maneuver and Hideki Irabu's later MLB contractual complications were contributing factors to a major revision of the Working Agreement in 1998 that created the posting system. [7] Since its inception 22 Japanese players have been signed through the system, however one of these players, Shinji Mori, did not play in a single MLB game due to an injury. NPB players who have nine or more years of playing service with NPB can become international free agents and do not need to enter MLB through the posting system. [8] The remaining Japanese players that have played in MLB have either signed as free agents or signed as amateur players. Mac Suzuki, Kazuhito Tadano, and Junichi Tazawa are the only Japanese players to have debuted in MLB without previously playing in NPB. [9] [10] [11] All 30 MLB teams have had at least one Japanese player on their roster.
Japanese players have had a range of success in MLB. Twelve players have been selected to participate in the All-Star Game; Ichiro Suzuki has made the most appearances with ten. In addition to these selections, Ichiro has won several prestigious MLB awards including the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award and the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 2001, the All-Star Game MVP Award in 2007 and multiple Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards. Ichiro also holds the MLB record for the recording the most hits in a single season. Hideo Nomo was the only Japanese pitcher to throw a no-hitter until Hisashi Iwakuma accomplished the feat on August 12, 2015. Nomo threw two in total; the first came in 1996 and the last occurred in 2001.
Currently, Shohei Ohtani is the only player in MLB history to win the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award twice unanimously in 2021 and 2023, the first player in MLB history with 10 wins and 40 home runs in a season, [12] and the first player in MLB history to be named to both first teams for the 2023 All-MLB Team in the same season (as a designated hitter and starting pitcher respectively). [13] Ohtani is also the first Japanese-born player to hit for the cycle, the first Japanese-born player to win a major league home run title, leading the American League with 44 home runs [14] the first Japanese-born player to win the AL Hank Aaron Award, [15] and the first Japanese player to have the most popular Major League Baseball jersey sales. [16] In addition, Ohtani has also won the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award in 2018, two Silver Slugger Awards, and multiple Edgar Martínez Outstanding Designated Hitter Awards. [17] Ohtani also signed the largest contract in professional sports history, a 10-year $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. [18] while Yoshinobu Yamamoto received the most guaranteed dollars ever given to a pitcher, signing a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers. [19]
Thirteen Japanese players have played in the World Series. Of these players, So Taguchi has won the most with two and Hideki Matsui is the only one to win the World Series MVP Award. The 2007 World Series had the most Japanese players, with Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima pitching for the Boston Red Sox, and Kazuo Matsui playing for the Colorado Rockies.
* | Signed with a Major League Baseball team via the posting system |
---|---|
§ | Signed with a Major League Baseball team without first playing for a Nippon Professional Baseball team |
† | Inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame |
‡ | Inducted into both the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame |
Player | Position | MLB debut | Final MLB game | Games | Former MLB Team(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masanori Murakami | P | September 1, 1964 | October 1, 1965 | 54 | San Francisco Giants (1964–1965) | [42] |
Hideo Nomo † | P | May 2, 1995 | April 18, 2008 | 324 | Los Angeles Dodgers (1995–1998, 2002–2004) New York Mets (1998) Milwaukee Brewers (1999) Detroit Tigers (2000) Boston Red Sox (2001) Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2005) Kansas City Royals (2008) | [43] [44] |
Mac Suzuki § | P | July 7, 1996 | June 28, 2002 | 117 | Seattle Mariners (1996, 1998–1999) Kansas City Royals (1999–2001, 2002) Colorado Rockies (2001) Milwaukee Brewers (2001) | [45] |
Shigetoshi Hasegawa | P | April 5, 1997 | September 28, 2005 | 517 | Anaheim Angels (1997–2001) Seattle Mariners (2002–2005) | [46] |
Takashi Kashiwada | P | May 1, 1997 | September 18, 1997 | 35 | New York Mets (1997) | [47] |
Hideki Irabu | P | July 10, 1997 | July 12, 2002 | 126 | New York Yankees (1997–1999) Montreal Expos (2000–2001) Texas Rangers (2002) | [48] |
Masato Yoshii | P | April 5, 1998 | September 11, 2002 | 162 | New York Mets (1998–1999) Colorado Rockies (2000) Montreal Expos (2001–2002) | [49] |
Masao Kida | P | April 5, 1999 | August 3, 2005 | 65 | Detroit Tigers (1999–2000) Los Angeles Dodgers (2003–2004) Seattle Mariners (2004–2005) | [50] |
Tomokazu Ohka | P | July 19, 1999 | October 4, 2009 | 204 | Boston Red Sox (1999–2001) Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals (2001–2005) Milwaukee Brewers (2005–2006) Toronto Blue Jays (2007) Cleveland Indians (2009) | [51] |
Kazuhiro Sasaki † | P | April 5, 2000 | September 28, 2003 | 228 | Seattle Mariners (2000–2003) | [52] |
Ichiro Suzuki *‡ | OF | April 2, 2001 | March 21, 2019 | 2,653 | Seattle Mariners (2001–2012, 2018–2019) New York Yankees (2012–2014) Miami Marlins (2015–2017) | [53] [54] |
Tsuyoshi Shinjo | OF | April 3, 2001 | June 27, 2003 | 303 | New York Mets (2001, 2003) San Francisco Giants (2002) | [55] |
Takahito Nomura | P | April 3, 2002 | May 15, 2002 | 21 | Milwaukee Brewers (2002) | [56] |
Satoru Komiyama | P | April 4, 2002 | September 11, 2002 | 25 | New York Mets (2002) | [57] |
Kazuhisa Ishii * | P | April 6, 2002 | September 28, 2005 | 105 | Los Angeles Dodgers (2002–2004) New York Mets (2005) | [58] |
So Taguchi | OF | June 10, 2002 | October 4, 2009 | 672 | St. Louis Cardinals (2002–2007) Philadelphia Phillies (2008) Chicago Cubs (2009) | [59] |
Hideki Matsui † | OF | March 31, 2003 | July 22, 2012 | 1,236 | New York Yankees (2003–2009) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2010) Oakland Athletics (2011) Tampa Bay Rays (2012) | [60] [61] |
Kazuo Matsui | IF | April 6, 2004 | May 18, 2010 | 630 | New York Mets (2004–2006) Colorado Rockies (2006–2007) Houston Astros (2008–2010) | [62] |
Akinori Otsuka * | P | April 6, 2004 | July 1, 2007 | 236 | San Diego Padres (2004–2005) Texas Rangers (2006–2007) | [63] |
Shingo Takatsu † | P | April 9, 2004 | October 2, 2005 | 99 | Chicago White Sox (2004–2005) New York Mets (2005) | [64] [65] |
Kazuhito Tadano § | P | April 27, 2004 | July 16, 2005 | 15 | Cleveland Indians (2004–2005) | [66] |
Tadahito Iguchi | IF | April 4, 2005 | September 28, 2008 | 493 | Chicago White Sox (2005–2007) Philadelphia Phillies (2007, 2008) San Diego Padres (2008) | [67] |
Keiichi Yabu | P | April 9, 2005 | September 27, 2008 | 100 | Oakland Athletics (2005) San Francisco Giants (2008) | [68] |
Norihiro Nakamura * | IF | April 10, 2005 | May 6, 2005 | 17 | Los Angeles Dodgers (2005) | [69] |
Kenji Johjima | C | April 3, 2006 | October 3, 2009 | 462 | Seattle Mariners (2006–2009) | [70] |
Takashi Saito | P | April 9, 2006 | September 30, 2012 | 338 | Los Angeles Dodgers (2006–2008) Boston Red Sox (2009) Atlanta Braves (2010) Milwaukee Brewers (2011) Arizona Diamondbacks (2012) | [71] |
Akinori Iwamura * | IF | April 2, 2007 | September 26, 2010 | 408 | Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays (2007–2009) Pittsburgh Pirates (2010) Oakland Athletics (2010) | [72] |
Hideki Okajima | P | April 2, 2007 | June 13, 2013 | 266 | Boston Red Sox (2007–2011) Oakland Athletics (2013) | [73] |
Daisuke Matsuzaka * | P | April 5, 2007 | September 25, 2014 | 158 | Boston Red Sox (2007–2012) New York Mets (2013–2014) | [74] [75] |
Kei Igawa * | P | April 7, 2007 | June 27, 2008 | 16 | New York Yankees (2007–2008) | [76] |
Masumi Kuwata | P | June 10, 2007 | August 13, 2007 | 19 | Pittsburgh Pirates (2007) | [77] |
Kosuke Fukudome | OF | March 31, 2008 | June 3, 2012 | 596 | Chicago Cubs (2008–2011) Cleveland Indians (2011) Chicago White Sox (2012) | [78] [79] |
Kazuo Fukumori | P | March 31, 2008 | April 24, 2008 | 4 | Texas Rangers (2008) | [80] |
Masahide Kobayashi | P | April 2, 2008 | May 7, 2009 | 67 | Cleveland Indians (2008–2009) | [81] |
Hiroki Kuroda † | P | April 4, 2008 | September 25, 2014 | 212 | Los Angeles Dodgers (2008–2011) New York Yankees (2012–2014) | [82] |
Yasuhiko Yabuta | P | April 5, 2008 | October 4, 2009 | 43 | Kansas City Royals (2008–2009) | [83] |
Koji Uehara | P | April 8, 2009 | September 2, 2017 | 436 | Baltimore Orioles (2009–2011) Texas Rangers (2011–2012) Boston Red Sox (2013–2016) Chicago Cubs (2017) | [84] |
Kenshin Kawakami | P | April 11, 2009 | September 9, 2010 | 52 | Atlanta Braves (2009–2010) | [85] |
Ken Takahashi | P | May 2, 2009 | September 25, 2009 | 28 | New York Mets (2009) | [86] [87] |
Junichi Tazawa § | P | August 7, 2009 | September 30, 2018 | 388 | Boston Red Sox (2009–2016) Miami Marlins (2017–2018) Los Angeles Angels (2018) | [88] [89] |
Hisanori Takahashi | P | April 7, 2010 | April 11, 2013 | 168 | New York Mets (2010) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2011–2012) Pittsburgh Pirates (2012) Chicago Cubs (2013) | [90] [91] |
Ryota Igarashi | P | April 8, 2010 | August 12, 2012 | 83 | New York Mets (2010–2011) Toronto Blue Jays (2012) New York Yankees (2012) | [92] [93] |
Tsuyoshi Nishioka * | IF | April 1, 2011 | August 8, 2012 | 71 | Minnesota Twins (2011–2012) | [94] [95] |
Yoshinori Tateyama | P | May 24, 2011 | September 26, 2012 | 53 | Texas Rangers (2011–2012) | [96] [97] |
Nori Aoki * | OF | April 6, 2012 | October 1, 2017 | 759 | Milwaukee Brewers (2012–2013) Kansas City Royals (2014) San Francisco Giants (2015) Seattle Mariners (2016) Houston Astros (2017) Toronto Blue Jays (2017) New York Mets (2017) | [98] [99] [100] |
Munenori Kawasaki | IF | April 7, 2012 | October 2, 2016 | 276 | Seattle Mariners (2012) Toronto Blue Jays (2013–2015) Chicago Cubs (2016) | [101] [102] |
Hisashi Iwakuma | P | April 20, 2012 | May 3, 2017 | 150 | Seattle Mariners (2012–2017) | [103] [104] |
Kyuji Fujikawa | P | April 1, 2013 | May 15, 2015 | 29 | Chicago Cubs (2013–2014) Texas Rangers (2015) | [105] [106] |
Kensuke Tanaka | OF | July 9, 2013 | July 28, 2013 | 15 | San Francisco Giants (2013) | [107] [108] |
Masahiro Tanaka * | P | April 4, 2014 | September 23, 2020 | 174 | New York Yankees (2014–2020) | [109] [110] [111] |
Tsuyoshi Wada | P | July 8, 2014 | September 4, 2015 | 21 | Chicago Cubs (2014–2015) | [112] [113] [114] |
Toru Murata | P | June 28, 2015 | June 28, 2015 | 1 | Cleveland Indians (2015) | [115] [116] |
Yoshihisa Hirano | P | March 29, 2018 | September 27, 2020 | 150 | Arizona Diamondbacks (2018–2019) Seattle Mariners (2020) | [117] [118] [119] |
Kazuhisa Makita * | P | March 30, 2018 | September 29, 2018 | 27 | San Diego Padres (2018) | [120] [121] |
Yoshi Tsutsugo * | IF | July 24, 2020 | July 31, 2022 | 182 | Tampa Bay Rays (2020–2021) Los Angeles Dodgers (2021) Pittsburgh Pirates (2021–2022) | [122] [123] [124] |
Shogo Akiyama | OF | July 24, 2020 | September 16, 2021 | 142 | Cincinnati Reds (2020–2021) | [125] [126] [127] |
Shun Yamaguchi * | P | July 26, 2020 | September 27, 2020 | 17 | Toronto Blue Jays (2020) | [128] [129] [130] |
Hirokazu Sawamura | P | April 2, 2021 | August 28, 2022 | 104 | Boston Red Sox (2021–2022) | [131] [132] |
Kohei Arihara * | P | April 3, 2021 | September 10, 2022 | 15 | Texas Rangers (2021–2022) | [133] [134] |
Naoyuki Uwasawa * | RP | May 2, 2024 | May 3, 2024 | 2 | Boston Red Sox (2024) | [135] [136] |
Player | League | Selections | Year(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ichiro Suzuki | AL | 10 | 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 | Inside-the-park home run, All-Star Game MVP (2007) [153] |
Yu Darvish | AL, NL | 5 | 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2021 | Selected as the winner of the Final Vote but did not play (2012) [154] [155] Selected but did not play (2013) [156] Selected but did not play (2017) Selected but did not play due to being on the injured list (2021) |
Shohei Ohtani | AL | 4 | 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 | Recorded a win as the starting pitcher (2021) First player in history to be selected as both designated hitter and starting pitcher (2021) [157] Selected as both the designated hitter and a starting pitcher, but did not pitch (2022) Selected as both the designated hitter and a starting pitcher. Automatic selection as the starting DH by leading the AL in votes (2023) [158] |
Kazuhiro Sasaki | AL | 2 | 2001, 2002 | Closed and recorded a save (2001) [159] |
Hideki Matsui | AL | 2 | 2003, 2004 | Selected as the winner of the Final Vote (2004) [160] |
Masahiro Tanaka | AL | 2 | 2014, 2019 | Selected but did not play due to being on the disabled list (2014) Selected in place of injured Marcus Stroman (2019) First Yankee pitcher to win an All-Star Game in 71 years (2019) [161] |
Hideo Nomo | NL | 1 | 1995 | Starting pitcher [162] |
Shigetoshi Hasegawa | AL | 1 | 2003 | |
Hideki Okajima | AL | 1 | 2007 | Selected as the winner of the Final Vote, but did not play [153] [163] |
Takashi Saito | NL | 1 | 2007 | |
Kosuke Fukudome | NL | 1 | 2008 | |
Hisashi Iwakuma | AL | 1 | 2013 | Selected but did not play [164] |
Koji Uehara | AL | 1 | 2014 | Selected in place of injured Masahiro Tanaka [165] |
Yusei Kikuchi | AL | 1 | 2021 | Selected but did not play [166] |
Kodai Senga | NL | 1 | 2023 | Selected in place of Marcus Stroman, but did not play [167] |
Shota Imanaga | NL | 1 | 2024 |
Player | World Series championships | World Series appearances | Year(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hideki Irabu | 2 | 2 | 1998 Yankees 1999 Yankees | First Japanese player to win a World Series. Did not play in either the 1998 or 1999 World Series but was on both active rosters. |
So Taguchi | 2 | 3 | 2004 Cardinals 2006 Cardinals 2008 Phillies | Did not play in the 2008 World Series, despite being on the Phillies' active roster [168] [169] [170] |
Hideki Matsui | 1 | 2 | 2003 Yankees 2009 Yankees | World Series MVP (2009) [171] [172] |
Tadahito Iguchi | 1 | 1 | 2005 White Sox | [173] |
Hideki Okajima | 1 | 1 | 2007 Red Sox | First Japanese pitcher to appear in a World Series. With Matsuzaka, first Japanese pitcher to win the World Series. The 2007 World Series was the first in which Japanese players appeared for both teams. [174] |
Daisuke Matsuzaka | 1 | 1 | 2007 Red Sox | First Japanese pitcher to both start and win a World Series game and first Japanese pitcher to win an MLB playoff game during the 2007 postseason. With Okajima, first Japanese pitcher to win the World Series. The 2007 World Series was the first in which Japanese players appeared for both teams. [174] |
Junichi Tazawa | 1 | 1 | 2013 Red Sox | [175] |
Koji Uehara | 1 | 1 | 2013 Red Sox | First Japanese pitcher to record a save in a World Series game [175] |
Kenta Maeda | 0 | 2 | 2017 Dodgers 2018 Dodgers | First Japanese player to play in consecutive World Series [176] |
Tsuyoshi Shinjo | 0 | 1 | 2002 Giants | First Japanese player to play in a World Series game [177] |
Kazuo Matsui | 0 | 1 | 2007 Rockies | The 2007 World Series was the first in which Japanese players appeared for both teams. [174] |
Akinori Iwamura | 0 | 1 | 2008 Rays | [178] |
Nori Aoki | 0 | 1 | 2014 Royals | [179] |
Yu Darvish | 0 | 1 | 2017 Dodgers | [180] |
Yoshi Tsutsugo | 0 | 1 | 2020 Rays | [181] |
In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given annually to two outstanding rookie players, one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL), as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946. The award became national in 1947; Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers' second baseman, won the inaugural award. One award was presented for all of MLB in 1947 and 1948; since 1949, the honor has been given to one player each in the NL and AL. Originally, the award was known as the J. Louis Comiskey Memorial Award, named after the Chicago White Sox owner of the 1930s. The award was renamed the Jackie Robinson Award in July 1987, 40 years after Robinson broke the baseball color line.
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Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called Puro Yakyū (プロ野球), meaning simply Professional Baseball; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball".
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The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) and Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). The winning team is awarded the World Baseball Classic Championship Trophy. It is one of the two main senior baseball tournaments sanctioned by the WBSC, alongside the WBSC Premier12, but is the only one to grant the winner the title of "world champion".
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The posting system is a baseball player transfer system that operates between Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). Despite the drafting of the United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement, unveiled in 1967 to regulate NPB players moving to MLB, problems began to arise in the late 1990s. Some NPB teams lost star players without compensation, an issue highlighted when NPB stars Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano left to play in MLB after using loopholes to void their existing contracts. A further problem was that NPB players had very little negotiating power if their teams decided to deal them to MLB, as when pitcher Hideki Irabu was traded to an MLB team for which he had no desire to play. In 1998, the Agreement was rewritten to address both problems; the result was dubbed the "posting system".
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