The Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants announced Thursday that they have signed Japanese right-hander Shota Iimura.
He replaces Kyoyama Masaya as the Giants’ Asian Quota System player. Each KBO team is allowed one player from the Baseball Federation of Asia, including those who have played professionally in Australia, alongside the three traditional foreign players permitted on a roster.
Like Iimura, Masaya was born in Japan and spent six seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
Most recently, Iimura played in the Taiwan Industrial Baseball League, which bridges the gap between college and the professional ranks in Taiwan.
During the spring, he posted a 0.93 ERA in 29 innings, earning him the Best Pitcher Award, per a report from The Chosun Daily. According to their findings, Iimura’s contract with the Giants is worth 160 million Korean won, or approximately $70,000.
“He is evaluated as a pitcher capable of effective game management, possessing a slider, curveball, sinker with good horizontal movement, and a splitter that drops vertically,” The Chosun Daily’s scouting report on Iimura reads.
With a 26-39-2 record, the Giants are in ninth place in the KBO standings. The organization’s last postseason appearance was in 2017.
