{"id":296962,"date":"2025-11-21T06:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T06:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/296962\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T06:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T06:01:10","slug":"japanese-infielder-kazuma-okamoto-pitcher-kona-takahashi-posted-and-can-sign-with-mlb-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/296962\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto, pitcher Kona Takahashi posted and can sign with MLB teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Yomiuri Giants’ Kazuma Okamoto flies out in the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo on Saturday, March 15, 2025.Hiro Komae\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Infielder Kazuma Okamoto and pitcher Kona Takahashi are entering Major League Baseball\u2019s posting system and will be available for teams to sign as free agents from Friday through Jan. 4.<\/p>\n

They join power-hitting corner infielder Munetaka Murakami, whose 45-day window to sign expires Dec. 22, and right-hander Tatsuya Imai, who can sign through Jan. 2.<\/p>\n

Okamoto, 29, hit .327 with 15 homers and 49 RBIs in 69 games this year for the Central League\u2019s Yomiuri Giants. He injured his left elbow while trying to catch a throw at first base on May 6 when he collided with the Hanshin Tigers\u2019 Takumu Nakano, an injury that sidelined Okamoto until Aug. 16.<\/p>\n

A six-time all-star, Okamoto has a .277 average with 248 homers and 717 RBIs in 11 Japanese big league seasons, leading the Central League in home runs in 2020, 2021 and 2023. He homered off Colorado\u2019s Kyle Freeland to help Japan beat the U.S. 3-2 in the 2023 World Baseball Classic final.<\/p>\n

Takahashi, a right-hander who turns 29 on Feb. 3, was 8-9 with a 3.04 ERA this year for the Pacific League\u2019s Seibu Lions, striking out 88 and walking 41 in 148 innings. He had gone 0-11 with a 3.87 ERA in 2024 after compiling a 22-16 record in the prior two seasons.<\/p>\n

Takahashi is 73-77 with a 3.39 ERA in 11 seasons with the Lions.<\/p>\n

Under MLB\u2019s posting agreement with Nippon Professional Baseball, the posting fee would be 20 per cent of the first US$25-million of a major league contract, including earned bonuses and options. The percentage drops to 17.5 per cent of the next US$25-million and 15 per cent of any amount over US$50-million. There would be a supplemental fee of 15 per cent of any earned bonuses, salary escalators and exercised options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Yomiuri Giants’ Kazuma Okamoto flies out in the fourth inning of a spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,2922,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-296962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-noastack","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}