Hiromi Itoh, Teruaki Sato Expected to Be Sent to MLB Teams Next Winter
MLB teams believe they are the stars of Nippon Professional Baseball Hiromi Itoh again Teruaki Sato both will be sent to the free agent market next season, according to ESPN.com’s Jorge Castillo. Itoh is a right winger for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, while Sato is a third baseman/backer for Hanshin Tiger. Both are members of Japan’s World Baseball Classic team, which faces Venezuela today in the quarter-finals in Miami.
Itoh will turn 29 in August, and the righty has a 2.87 ERA, 21.73% strikeout rate, and 6.17% walk rate over 828 career innings with the Fighters from 2021-25. He is the reigning winner of the Sawamura Award, which is similar to the Cy Young Award except that it is only given to one NPB pitcher (not one each from the Central and Pacific Leagues) and is not awarded annually if no pitchers are deemed worthy of the honor.
Major league coaches may be impressed by Itoh’s seven-pitch arsenal, highlighted by a 96mph fastball. Castillo writes that Itoh’s primary pitches among his seven offerings are the fastball, splitter, and sweeper.
A low strikeout rate could be a red flag to Major League teams, and Itoh is relatively short at just 5’9″. However, a talent scout for the American League team tells Castillo that while Itoh “he is young“you have”proven track record of fitness. He should continue to strike out MLB hitters while allowing very few walks.”
Castillo names Sonny Gray as com comp for Itoh, while Ryan O’Hearn Sato’s comp. The Hanshin slugger just celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday, and is coming off a 2025 season that saw him hit .277/.345/.579 over 597 plate appearances while hitting 40 home runs. This big year earned him Central League MVP honors, and his fourth All-Star nod in his five NPB seasons.
Sato’s resume includes the Glove of his career at third base, which has been Sato’s primary position for the past three seasons. He pitched well in 2021-22 and regained some work in the outfield this past season, so Major League teams view Sato as a versatile player who can switch between the two positions, if he can be kept at third.
Since both Itoh and Sato are too short of nine full years of NPB service to achieve full free agency, the Fighters and Tigers will have to agree to make an earlier than expected shipment to allow the players to test the big league market. This is perhaps most notable in Sato’s case as the Tigers have traditionally been reluctant to send their players on early. Any number of factors could play into a team’s decision-making process regarding when (or if) to send top players to MLB clubs, but one argument in Sato’s favor may be that he has already helped the Tigers achieve some team success — the Tigers won the Japan Series in 2023 and reached the Series again in 2025.
As a reminder, the rules of the MLB/NPB posting system state that once a player is posted, he has 45 days to agree to a contract with a Major League team. If no agreement is reached within that period, the player returns to his Japanese club for the following season, although he can be sent back the following season. If a player accepts a contract to go to North America, his former NPB club will earn a postage fee related to the size of the contract. The NPB team fee will equal 20% of the first $25MM of a player’s guaranteed Major League contract, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of everything over $50MM.
It is possible that the sending system could be changed if a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is negotiated next season. Changing the system would naturally require input from the NPB, and given all the other major labor issues expected to dominate negotiations between Major League owners and the players’ union, the sending system is probably the most difficult issue.
That being said, it is a virtual guarantee that the league will lock out players when the CBA expires on December 1st, which will lead to a layoff. With most NPB players not officially deployed until at least the second half of November, Itoh and Sato will likely have their 45-day windows disrupted, leaving them in limbo throughout the entire suspension. Or they could choose to stay in the NPB for the 2027 season to wait out the uncertainty of the MLB staff, although it should be noted that the 2021-22 lockout did not prevent it. Seiya Suzuki from making the jump to the majors. Suzuki was comfortable waiting out what ended up being a 99-day lockout, and received his five-year, $85MM deal with the Cubs.
Markets for this year’s crop of top-quality NPB talent may influence Itoh and Sato’s decisions. Kazuma Okamoto he received a four-year, $60MM contract from the Blue Jays that matched the speculation, but the new Astros right-hander. Tatsuya Imai (three years, $54MM with two opt-outs) and a new first baseman for the White Sox Munetaka Murakami (two years and $34MM) had to deal with smaller contracts than expected. While players are obviously always trying to post big numbers and fix any flaws in their game, there may be more pressure on Itoh and Sato to prove themselves in the 2026 season if their hopes are to secure an expensive MLB contract next winter.
