With six players from both the KBO and Japanese professional baseball challenging the Major League this winter, one player will not be able to find a place to move to and it will likely be frustrating to enter the big leagues. It is Naoyuki Wusawa.
Multiple local media, including Japan’s “Daily Sports,” reported the closing news of Naoyuki Wusawa’s posting on the 12th (Korean time).
Wusawa started his professional career after being nominated by the Nippon Ham Fighters in the sixth round of the Japanese professional baseball rookie draft in 2011. Wusawa is a starting pitcher who throws two-seam fastballs, sliders, cutters, curves, forkballs and changeups based on fastballs of up to 152 km, and challenged the Major League after appearing in 173 games during his nine seasons in Japan with a 70-62-1 hold average of 3.19.
Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) and Usawa, “the same age,” have only won double-digit wins (11 wins in 2018 and 12 wins in 2021) during their nine seasons at Nippon Ham, but he declared to advance to the big leagues to achieve his “dream” based on his ability to play 170 innings in 2023 and play the most innings among Pacific League pitchers.
Although it is not fancy, Wusawa, who had a not bad career, said, “I had a dream about the Major League two years ago and delivered it to the club. I brought up the big league when I signed the 2022 contract,” adding, “I changed my mind about baseball, especially when I participated in the U.S.-Japan All-Star Game in 2018. I thought, ‘There is such a baseball,'” he said, explaining the background of his challenge to the Major League 월카지노.
Wusawa also asked for advice from a senior who experienced posting at the time. “I didn’t talk to Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres) and Ohtani, but Kohei Arihara (Softbank Hawks) has experienced posting and is a senior who became close with Nippon Ham. I had a chance to talk, so I had a lot of conversations,” he explained.
Due to his less than stellar career, he was criticized and criticized by fans when he announced his Major League debut. “Whatever I do, those opinions can come out. I have to change it so that there are less concerns,” he said. “I think it can be changed enough with performance and play. It depends on how I do it. You have no choice but to trust me.”
As such, he challenged the big league despite concerns and received attention from six major league teams. In particular, the Tampa Bay Rays were interested in recruiting Uwasa. However, this winter, Lee Jung-hoo visited the San Francisco Giants for a six-year, $113 million, Yamamoto Yoshinobu visited the Los Angeles Dodgers for a 12-year, $325 million, Matsui Yuki and Ko Woo-seok (San Diego), and Imana Shota (Chicago Cubs) in succession, and the only contract news about Uwasa has not been reported.
As a result, the deadline for posting with Wusa exceeded 7 a.m. on the 12th, and his entry into the Major League finally seems to be a failure. Japan’s “Daily Sports” said, “While Wusa, who aims to transfer to the Major League through the posting system, has passed the deadline for negotiations, no news of the contract agreement has been announced from the Major League club.”
Like Ko Woo-suk, there is a possibility that an agreement will be reached before the deadline is passed, and an official announcement will be made after the deadline, but with the posting deadline exceeding 1 hour and 30 minutes, there is no news of the “agreement.” Therefore, Woosawa is likely to return to Nippon Ham in the 2024 season after failing to post.