Left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara officially signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball on Thursday. He’d been in Double-A with the Nationals but was granted his release on Monday.
Ogasawara signed a two-year, $3.5MM free agent contract with the Nats over the 2024-25 offseason. The southpaw was coming off a 3.12 ERA across 144 1/3 innings for the Chunichi Dragons in his home country. He was young enough to command a multi-year deal but at a modest price, as MLB teams were skeptical about how his low-strikeout arsenal would play at this level.
The signing didn’t work out. Ogasawara was unable to secure a spot at the back of Washington’s rotation out of camp. The Nats brought him up for his MLB debut in July and used him in mostly low-leverage relief. Ogasawara allowed nearly seven earned runs per nine across 38 2/3 innings and was outrighted off the 40-man roster at the end of the season.
Washington kept the 28-year-old in the upper minors to begin this season. He pitched well in Double-A but struggled over a trio of Triple-A starts. It was apparent he wasn’t going to be much of a factor for the MLB team this year, so it’s understandable he preferred to go back to pitching in Japan’s top league.
