Shota Imanaga, a left-handed pitcher with Japan's Yokohama Bay Stars, is expected to be "posted" on Monday for Major League Baseball consideration, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Once Imanaga is officially posted, he'll have up to 45 days to negotiate with MLB teams.
Imanaga, 30, has posted a 2.96 ERA and a 3.93 strikeout-to-walk ratio in more than 1,120 career innings in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. CBS Sports recently ranked him as the 42nd-best free agent available this winter. Here's what we wrote at the time:
Imanaga, previously part of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars rotation, loves his low-90s fastball. He threw it around 60% of the time last season, all the while posting a usage rate above 15% on just one other offering, his slider. Imanaga relies on coercing outside-the-zone swings on his heater, something he did to great effect in Japan. It's to be seen if their American counterparts give pursuit as often. Imanaga generated close to 40% whiffs on his slider, and he may need to balance his arsenal more to be effective as a MLB starter.
The posting system is essentially MLB's version of the transfer portal for NPB and Korea Baseball Organization players. Players who do not qualify for outright free agency can be "posted" by their foreign teams. Those teams, in turn, receive a posting fee based on the player's MLB agreement.
Here's how the posting fee tiers break down:
- Contract worth less than $25 million: 20% of contract value
- Contract worth $25 million to $50 million: $5 million plus 17.5% of amount over $25 million
- Contract worth more than $50 million: $9.275 million plus 15% of amount over $50 million
Imanaga is one of three top-50 free agents likely to be posted this winter, joining fellow Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee. It's unclear when, exactly, Yamamoto and Lee will be posted.
