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The story
It emerged on October 17 that Hanshin Tigers outfielder Shota Morishita has already signed with an agent in preparation for a future posting-system move to MLB. The report broke just after Morishita homered for a fourth straight year since his 2023 rookie season and became the first player in franchise history to homer in consecutive at-bats during the Climax Series. On the forums, opinions split on timing, with some saying “this offseason is too soon” and others saying “the year after next would make more sense.” Debate also centered on how this plays against Teruaki Sato, whose MLB move after his 6th-year offseason is already seen as a done deal, and on how to weigh the pay gap between NPB and MLB.
Hanshin’s Morishita preparing for MLB move, already signed with an agent — “I do want to compete at the highest level” — intentions may be conveyed to the club as early as this offseason
It was learned on the 17th that Hanshin Tigers outfielder Shota Morishita (26) has already signed with an agent and is making preparations for a future MLB challenge via the posting system.
Starting for the first time in two games that day, he homered in the Climax Series for the fourth consecutive year since his 2023 rookie season, and also became the first player in franchise history to go deep in consecutive at-bats.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
So that's only 2 more seasons with the Tigers, huh.
Why didn't they lock Sato-Teru into 7 seasons like Okamoto and Murakami did?
Feels like you're better off drafting a mediocre prospect at this point, no?
Though I'd be shocked if he fit in as fast as Murakami did in year one.
so I think he'd just end up a watered-down Seiya.
And Seiya basically had to bulk up to the point of risking a heart attack
just to finally make it work over there.
Anyway, I'd like to see him hit 40 homers next year first.
he's only in his 4th season.
Next offseason could get messy.
The year after that, it'd probably go smoothly.
MLB: average salary ¥800 million, top salary ¥11 billion
Yeah, of course everyone wants to go to MLB.
Even without succeeding over there, landing a decent contract would still pay more than staying successful in Japan.
Something that costs ¥500 in Japan costs about ¥6000 in the US.
Adjusting for that:
NPB: average salary ¥600 million, top salary ¥7.2 billion
MLB: average salary ¥800 million, top salary ¥11 billion
Plus, even if you earn ¥1 billion in the US, you can't just bring all of it back to Japan.
Honestly it'd be healthier for players to aim for MLB straight away instead of going through NPB first.
Guess a declining country with the world's 6th-largest GDP has no choice but to quietly hand its talent over.
About 20-30% of the salary in big MLB contracts is usually deferred.
So that 20-30% can just be used in Japan as-is.
If you try to bring money earned in the US back to Japan, federal tax takes half of it.
That's what I'd like to say, but losing Sato and Morishita at the same time locks in a losing season for sure, so hold off until they've restocked the roster by poaching domestic free agents.
but what happens once Sato and Morishita are gone and senpai starts declining too?
Will they develop or sign another slugger by then?
I doubt things work out that conveniently.
Succeed and you're clearing over ¥1 billion a year; even if you fail, some NPB team will buy you back for a few hundred million.
Low risk, high reward.
It'll probably end up like soccer.
And that's entirely because NPB never did anything about it.
In the Pacific League too, it's basically just SoftBank.
Nah, Maki's heading to MLB too, so Yokohama's finishing last lol
Hey Fujikawa, what nerve do you have staying on as manager after this.
It's the Giants' fault.
They got abandoned for MLB back-to-back, first by Matsui and now by Okamoto.
Background and key points of this discussion
The posting system requires not just the player’s own wish but the club’s approval, making it a separate mechanism from domestic free agency (roughly 8 years of service for players who joined out of high school, 7 years for those who joined from college or corporate leagues). Teruaki Sato, the comparison point in the thread, is already widely seen as set to move after his 6th-year offseason, while Morishita is only in his 4th year, so the view that “this offseason is too soon” dominated the discussion. The salary figures tossed around for comparison were impressionistic numbers from the thread; as some replies themselves pointed out, big-money US contracts are often paid out in deferred installments and the tax treatment differs between Japan and the US, which makes a simple yen-conversion comparison unreliable. It’s also easy to misread the headline phrase “intentions may be conveyed as early as this offseason” as confirmation of a move — it actually just reports that Morishita is at the stage of signaling his wishes to the club, not that a transfer is settled.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Baseball] Hanshin’s Morishita Shota preparing for MLB, already signed with an agent — “I do want to compete at the highest level” — intentions may be conveyed to the club as early as this offseason.”
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