Across the Sea

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It was announced early yesterday morning that Kazuma Okamoto will in fact be posted by the Yomiuri Giants after there were reports stating the exact opposite would happen. With that in mind, and considering the Dodgers probably won’t sign every Japanese player out there, I thought it would be wise to take a look at the four top Japanese players that are going to be available to MLB clubs this winter, and how they might or might not be a fit for the Metsies. 

The 6’2” 214 pound 25-year-old lefty-hitting 3B/1B Munetaka Murakami has the nickname “Murakami-sama”. It was the 2022 word of the year in Japan. It combines his surname with -sama, which is a reference to a “kami-sama”, otherwise known as a, uh, God. So I guess he’s the Eric Clapton of NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball). 

2022 was the big year for Murakami - he hit 56 home runs, the record for most home runs hit in an NPB season by a Japanese-born player, surpassing the legendary Sadaharu Oh. He became the youngest player to ever win the Triple Crown in Japan. Murakami repeated as the Central League MVP. He played for Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, where we got a first glimpse of what he can potentially do against American pitching. He struggled for a while, until hitting a walk-off two-run double in the semifinals against Mexico, then slugging a home run to lead off the second off of Merrill Kelly to help Japan beat the U.S. 3-2 in the championship game. Scouts say his power would translate to MLB.

In his break‑out years he combined walks and power, posting OBPs in the .400+ range in Japan. (Does that remind you of any current Mets?) Over the span of his NPB career he has slashed .273/.394/.550 with an OPS near .943 and amassed 265 home runs through his first eight seasons. His on-base percentage however has dipped a bit over the last couple of years. Murakami has played roughly 75 percent of the time at the hot corner, with the rest of the time mostly at first. 

That strikeout/contact rate is the biggest red flag. After that great 2022 campaign, Murakami’s contact metrics have deteriorated: his in‑zone contact dropped to ~74 % and his whiff rate surged to ~36 % in his last full seasons in NPB. While Murakami has played third base, many scouts view his defense as sub‐optimal for MLB at that position. He may project more realistically as a first baseman or designated hitter. One scout gave him a “30” on the 20‑80 scale for third base. Worldbaseball.com wrote that a 90th-percentile outcome for Murakami would be if he had a career like Max Muncy, Kyle Schwarber, Matt Olson, or Rafael Devers.

He might fit on the Mets. Might. He’ll probably be a first baseman in the majors, and, well, the Mets might have that position available to anyone who wants it. He also provides the thump you’d lose if Pete Alonso went bye-bye. He’s six years younger than the Polar Bear too. But the diminishing contact rate lately is concerning. 

Kazuma Okamoto is a 29-year-old right-handed 6’1” 220 lb corner infielder/outfielder. His nickname is “The Young General” - he’s the captain of the Yomiuri Giants. In 11 NPB seasons he’s slashed .277/.361/.521 with 248 home runs. Okamoto is a six-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glover, and three-time home run champ.He hit at least 30 home runs in multiple seasons (41 dingers in 2023) and has shown the ability to lead the league in that category. Unlike Murakami, Okamoto’s strikeout rate is relatively modest for a power hitter (~15.9% K‐rate in 2024) and his walk rate is serviceable. He has played third base, first base, and even some outfield. Some reports suggest first base may be his best defensive fit, like Murakami. His 2025 only consisted of 69 games because of an elbow injury suffered in a first base collision. Okamoto put up a 327/.416/.598 slash line anyways. 

Supposedly, Okamoto’s numbers “fall off a cliff” when he has faced fastballs above 94 mph. MLB Trade Rumors figures that might be because Okamoto rarely sees fastballs with that much velocity in the NPB, and he might be able to adjust the more often he sees them in MLB. He won’t be posted until sometime between late November and mid December. 

Okamoto sounds like a safer bet than Murakami - he sells out for power less. But he’s four years older, which is a consideration.

Now, the pitchers. Tatsuya Imai is a diminutive right-hander - 5’11”, 154 lbs to be exact, according to Baseball Reference. He wore #48 for the Saitama Seibu Lions. That’s a good pitcher number imho.

In eight NPB seasons, the 27-year-old put together a 58-45 record with a 3.15 ERA with a 1.267 WHIP. It should be noted that his ERA has gone down recently. For the 2025 season, Imai went 10-5 with a miniscule 1.92 ERA in 163.2 innings pitched. On June 17th of this year, Imai struck out 17 batters in a game, surpassing Dice-K’s franchise record. His four‑seam fastball sits in the mid‑90s mph range, and he has been known to touch 99 when needed. His slider is a strong secondary weapon, and he pairs that with a developing changeup, splitter and curve. A comp given by Lance Brozdowski was Mariners hurler Luis Castillo. 

Imai is an intriguing arm for the Mets — a young, powerful, high‑upside starter who appears ready for the next level. If the Mets believe in his translation, the organizational fit is strong and the upside could be substantial. Of course, like with Kodai Senga, they’d have to make sure he gets five days of rest between starts. 

Hiroto Saiki is a 6’2” 174 lb right-handed hurler. He’ll turn 27 in a few weeks and has pitched for the Hanshin Tigers since the end of the 2017 season. Saiki’s career numbers in the NPB: 45-26, 2.18 ERA(it’s a pitcher friendly league), 1.133 WHIP. He’s had one Tommy John surgery already, back in 2020. 

He averages fastballs in the mid‑90s mph range, which he pairs with a sharp forkball, slider and curve. His fastball spin rate and deception are cited by observers as plus tools. Saiki credited his success especially after rehabbing following Tommy John to adding more off‑speed offerings so that hitters can’t sit on the fastball. There is concern that his K/9 rate will drop in MLB because of his diminished velocity (his rate was in line with the NPB average last season), but he mostly shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers when he faced them in an exhibition back in March. Brozdowski’s comp for Saiki was…Jonah Tong, on account of his massive extension on the windup. Saiki threw five innings and allowed just one hit while fanning seven, including Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. Imai looks to be a better fit for the Mets, but it’s close.

Griffin Alexander Canning is a California boy through and through. He was born in Mission Viejo, went to high school in Rancho Santa Margarita, was the ace at UCLA (where he wore #55 in honor of Orel Hershiser), and was drafted and played for the Los Angeles Angels. 2025 must have been quite the culture shock for him - it was the first time Canning pitched for a team outside of the Golden State. But we’ll get to that.

He was selected 47th overall in the 2017 MLB Draft. He got as high as Triple-A the very next year before he made his MLB debut on April 30, 2019. But most of the season was spent on the injured list with elbow inflammation. 

Canning was, ironically enough, healthy for all of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He went 2-3 with a 3.99 ERA in 11 starts for the Halos. He won his first and to this day only Gold Glove award. 

Griffin took a step backwards in 2021, posting a 5.60 ERA before getting demoted to Triple-A Salt Lake and eventually getting shut down with a low back stress fracture. He missed all of 2022 with the injury. 

2023 showed some promise again from Mr. Canning. He went 7-8 with a 103 ERA+ and posted his highest bWAR yet (2.0).This, perhaps not coincidentally, was also the year when he read Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now”, which taught him to live in the present moment. 

But he fell back to Earth the following season, losing 13 games thanks to his 5.19 earned run average. Looking back on his time with the Angels, Canning said, “It was difficult. We had four or five different managers and four or five different pitching coaches with the Angels. Sometimes a new guy comes in and maybe doesn’t necessarily know you as well. Or just different organizational philosophies when people come in and out.”

It all seemed to come together for Canning in 2025 with the Mets. Until he got hurt at least. Canning embraced the Mets’ pitching lab and kinetic‑tracking systems, and it paid off. Canning’s arsenal remained to be a four‑pitch mix: fastball, slider, curve, changeup. What changed was his sequencing and approach: less reliance on one pitch, more mixing and strategic usage. He was 7-3 with a 3.77 ERA, his lowest season ERA of his career, when on June 26th he randomly suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. His season was over, and the first half of 2026 is probably gone as well. 

I think Canning would be someone the Mets can get to come back, even though Jeremy Hefner won’t be around anymore. He won’t cost that much and the upside was too apparent to be completely ignored. Just don’t rely on him to come back until after the All-Star Break.

Francisco Lindor underwent a “right elbow debridement procedure.” An elbow debridement removes damaged tissue and/or small fragments of bone or cartilage in the elbow joint. The Mets insist Lindor will be ready to rock by the time spring training rolls around, which tracks with what medical websites say. Lindor had surgery to remove bone spurs from the very same elbow just two years ago. 

Lindor, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso were all named as finalists for Silver Slugger awards. The winners will be announced on November 6th.

The Mets interviewed former Atlanta manager Brian Snitker’s son, Troy, to potentially be a hitting coach working under Director of Hitting Jeff Albert. The junior Snitker was recently let go by the Astros as one of their hitting coaches after seven seasons. 

In Arizona Fall League action, the Scottsdale Scorpions got creamed by the Surprise Saguaros to the tune of 10-1. Met prospect CF Nick Morabito went 1 for 4 with a strikeout and his 8th stolen base. RF D’Andre Smith went 0 for 2 with two walks and swiped his sixth bag. RHP Brett Banks struck out four in one and two thirds innings, permitting one earned run on two hits in the process.

On TikTok, Benny Agbayani was quizzed on the Met lineup when he made his MLB debut. (He led off.)