Japanese Starting Pitcher Naoyuki Uwasawa Likely Coming to MLB

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm not sure what to think of this posting. Uwasawa has announced intention to post for MLB teams this winter. The 29-year-old righty turns 30 before the 2024 season will begin and is known as a finesse pitcher, offering a fastball that sits around 91mph.

Over the past three seasons, Uwasawa has pitched roughly 490 innings with an ERA right around 3.00 but his strikeout rate is well under one batter per inning. Other Japanese pitchers have posted similar numbers and later had great success in Major League Baseball (see Maeda, Kenta). Maeda came to the Dodgers for his age 28 season but, similarly to Uwasawa, offers a fastball in the low-90s and struck out well under one batter per inning in Japan. Upon arriving in the US, Maeda's numbers jumped considerably as he began striking out 9.9 batters per nine innings during his MLB career.

Like many Japanese pitchers, Uwasawa has a "kitchen-sink-and-the-entire-toolshed" pitch arsenal. He throws a four-seamer, forkball, cutter, changeup, slider, and knuckle curve. Reports on the efficacy of his secondary and tertiary offerings vary.

Recently, Uwasawa held a throwing session for several MLB teams and the Cubs were in attendance.

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[Jason Ross]

On one hand, I'm glad the Cubs are doing their due-diligence, that's a good thing.  On the other hand, the last thing the rotation needs currently is another low-velocity, maybe-his-secondaries-carry-him BORP-type. He sounds like an option the Cubs should look at if they needed to depth to the bottom. Maybe there's a world where they need to do that this offseason (declining Hendricks option, a trade of Assad/Wicks...etc). But I'd like the Cubs to shoot higher for rotational help.

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, 1908_Cubs said:

On one hand, I'm glad the Cubs are doing their due-diligence, that's a good thing.  On the other hand, the last thing the rotation needs currently is another low-velocity, maybe-his-secondaries-carry-him BORP-type. He sounds like an option the Cubs should look at if they needed to depth to the bottom. Maybe there's a world where they need to do that this offseason (declining Hendricks option, a trade of Assad/Wicks...etc). But I'd like the Cubs to shoot higher for rotational help.

Same. It’s hard to get an accurate scouting report on Uwasawa but it feels like the Cubs have this area covered with Hendricks-type pitchers.