Left-handed pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara has signed with the Yomiuri Giants.
The 28-year-old was introduced at a press conference on Thursday, officially marking his return to Nippon Professional Baseball.
A top amateur prospect over a decade ago, Ogasawara was selected in the first round of the 2015 NPB Draft by the Chunichi Dragons. Over the next nine seasons, the Kanagawa native compiled a 3.62 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate across 951 ⅓ innings.
With the exception of an outstanding 2022 campaign, when he posted career-best marks with a 2.76 ERA and 24% strikeout rate over 146 ⅔ innings, the southpaw spent most of his career as an adequate mid-rotation starter but never quite reached the lofty expectations that followed him out of high school.
He was posted to Major League Baseball following the 2024 season and signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Washington Nationals.
Ogasawara opened the 2025 campaign at Triple-A Rochester before earning his first MLB promotion on July 6. He went on to make 23 appearances, including two starts, posting a 6.98 ERA and 6.16 FIP before being removed from the Nationals’ 40-man roster at the end of the season.
After failing to make the big league club out of spring training in 2026, he split time between Double-A and Triple-A, where he recorded a solid 2.91 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate over 11 starts.
The Nationals eventually granted Ogasawara his release, allowing him to return to Japan. He reportedly drew interest from several NPB clubs, including his former team in Chunichi, but ultimately chose to sign with Yomiuri.
The move to a different NPB club is hardly unprecedented. In recent years, several Japanese pitchers have effectively used the posting system to accelerate their path to domestic free agency. Kohei Arihara and Naoyuki Uwasawa were both posted by the Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters before returning to Japan to join the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, while Hanshin Tigers side-winder Koyo Aoyagi signed a minor league pact with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2025 before returning later that same season to sign with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Ogasawara joins a Giants team battling for first place in the Central League. Despite losing last year’s ace, Iori Yamasaki, to injury and seeing Tomoyuki Sugano and Foster Griffin jump stateside in recent years, the Giants have Frankensteined together an effective rotation that ranks fourth in NPB with a collective 3.11 ERA.
Ogasawara could play a big role in further deepening the staff, joining the likes of Kazuyuki Takemaru, Haruto Inoue, Forrest Whitley, and Masahiro Tanaka.
Photo: Washington Nationals relief pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara throws during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
