Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

It’s time for another cycle of prospect lists and, as has become customary, we’re starting with scouting reports on pro players in foreign leagues, with a focus on players available for MLB free agency this offseason. On The Board, you can access a fresh batch of scouting reports and evaluations for relevant players from Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization, and the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, as well as reports on some young players we’ve identified as potentially impactful long-term prospects. For those who need a crash course on the age- and pro experience-driven lines of demarcation that dictate how MLB teams sign international players, we’d point you to a number of MLB.com glossary entries, including those on international free agency for those in Asian pro leagues, international amateur free agency and bonus pool restrictions, the Japanese posting system, and the Korean posting system.

It can be a bit overwhelming to sift through so many different types of players on that section of The Board — it’s a real apples and oranges situation when we’re talking about some guys who are in their 30s and others who are fairly young — so we’ve broken many of them into digestible subgroups below, with focus on the crop that is purported to be coming over this offseason. You’ll notice that some players appear across multiple categories. The Board has each player’s full scouting report and tool grades — think of this as more of a table of contents.

Murakami
Munetaka Murakami, 3B/1B, Yakult Swallows (NPB)

Like Roki Sasaki last year, the 25-year-old Murakami gets his own section because he’s pretty comfortably the most famous player of this group and his arrival is the most anticipated. At the time of his volcanic breakout in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, you couldn’t help but impatiently twiddle your thumbs waiting for the time when Murakami would matriculate to our shores. Now he’s doing so as real questions about his ability to make a viable rate of contact swirl around his profile. Murakami has very special left-handed power, easily a 70 or 80 on the scouting scale, and his 56-homer peak season exemplifies what he can do when he’s accessing that power regularly. In 2023, his strikeout rate regressed up to 28.1%, near where it was when Murakami was still an improving teenager, and it’s hovered in that range for the past three seasons. That’s a pretty big, scary number for a Japanese hitter trying to transition to MLB.

Murakami’s splits against good velocity (63% contact rate since 2022) and against secondary pitches (just above 50% in 2025) are even more concerning. Essentially, every secondary pitch type played like an elite offering against him in 2025. This may be because Murakami dealt with a litany of injuries from the end of 2024 through the middle of 2025 (toe, elbow, oblique), or it might be remedied with a tweak to the way his hands set up so that he can more regularly be on time against good fastballs. But if Murakami is only ever the quality of contact hitter we’ve seen the last three years, with no changes or improvements, he basically can’t be a good MLB hitter. Aside from Joey Gallo, there really isn’t precedent for someone making this little contact and having a sustained, successful career of any kind.

The general consensus among our contacts is that all it will take for Murakami to land a huge contract is for a couple of teams to have both the budget and the will to pursue him because of his power potential, and then try to make changes that actualize it. Elite left-handed power doesn’t grow on trees, and there are reasons to believe Murakami has been compromised and hitting beneath his true talent for the last little while. He’s going to be a very expensive lottery ticket. Caveat emptor.

Poised for Immediate Impact
Tatsuya Imai, RHP, Seibu Lions (NPB)
Kazuma Okamoto, 1B/3B, Yomiuri Giants (NPB)
Cody Ponce, RHP, Hanwha Eagles (KBO)

The 27-year-old Imai has steadily improved as a strike-thrower and innings-eater each of the last three years, and his fastball was still sitting in the mid-90s at the end of 2025 even though he’d worked 160-plus innings for the second consecutive season. Imai’s delivery arguably doesn’t take full advantage of his special athleticism and flexibility, and he might find another gear in MLB. He has the stuff of a good mid-rotation starter and is in his prime.

Okamoto, 29, is the bumper bowling version of Murakami. He’s safer and, especially during the last two years, has improved his contact performance against good fastballs such that we’re more confident his bat will translate immediately. He doesn’t have the same overall ceiling as Murakami and he’s a few years older, so his contract will probably come in below Murakami’s even though he’s a safer short-term bet.

Ponce’s deal should exceed the two-year, $15 million deal Erick Fedde 페디 got a couple of offseasons ago after he experienced a late-career renaissance in Korea much the way Ponce did in 2025. Ponce totally reshaped his physique, added two ticks to his fastball and developed a plus splitter, and the added velocity carried over to his breaking pitches, which got better as a result. Not only is Ponce totally different than he was when he left the U.S., but he’s totally different than he was only about a year ago. He should be able to contribute as a good team’s fourth starter and command a two-year deal in the $20 million – $25 million area.

Might Not Come At All
Hiroto Saiki, RHP, Hanshin Tigers (NPB)
Jo Hsi Hsu, RHP, Wei Chuan Dragons (CPBL)
Drew Anderson, RHP, SSG Landers (KBO)
Lewin Díaz, 1B, Samsung Lions (KBO)

Our sources cautioned us that the 27-year-old Saiki, who has a plus splitter and surgical command, is not a lock to come over. Hsu is going to be fascinating because it’s probable that most MLB teams consider him a reliever. He may decide to head to NPB, where he’s more likely to start, and prove he can do it for a year or two before coming to MLB. He’s an amazing athlete, but he didn’t hold his velo throughout 2025. We really like him as a reliever and think he could be a set-up man. Anderson has spent time pitching in both Japan and (more recently) Korea. A move back to NPB will be lucrative, and perhaps more stable and convenient for personal reasons (Anderson is married to a Japanese woman, for one), so unless an MLB team blows him away, he might just stick around in Asia and be a star there. Díaz hit 50 homers in Korea this year even though he’s still very chase-prone. It’s plausible teams will be skeptical of that power translating the way it did for Eric Thames a few years ago.

We Disagree About
Drew Anderson, RHP, SSG Landers (KBO)
Sung-moon Song 송성문, 3B, Kiwoom Heroes (KBO)

We had a sizable gap in our personal evaluations of these two players, ultimately using the higher of the two evals for both. One of us thinks Anderson can be a big league starter, a no. 4/5 on a good team, while the other sees him as more of a reliever. And one of us sees Song as a second division regular at third base, while the other is terrified that his swing won’t play against pitches away from him.

Other Potential Starters
Anthony Kay, LHP, Yokohama Baystars (NPB)
Foster Griffin, LHP, Yomiuri Giants (NPB)
Kona Takahashi, RHP, Seibu Lions (NPB)

Kay and Griffin are seeking MLB deals while touting roughly the same lefty swingman-level stuff they’ve showed in the past, but now with multiple seasons of NPB starting success to bolster their pitchability reputations. Takahashi can really pitch, but his fastball misses bats at a single-digit clip and that might be a barrier. Any of these three could be a suitable fifth starter next year.

Guys We’re More Comfortable Projecting in Relief
Jo Hsi Hsu, RHP, Wei Chuan Dragons (CPBL)
Ryan Weiss, RHP, Hanwha Eagles (KBO)
Jon Duplantier, RHP, Hanshin Tigers (NPB)
Sho Iwasaki, RHP, Orix Buffaloes (NPB)
Takahiro Norimoto, RHP, Rakuten Golden Eagles (NPB)
Andre Jackson, RHP, Yokohama BayStars (NPB)
James Naile, RHP, Kia Tigers (KBO)
Zach Logue, LHP, Doosan Bears (KBO)
Riley Thompson, RHP, NC Dinos (KBO)

Several pitchers in this group rely on deception (Logue, Iwasaki), or need to pitch backwards due to a lack of fastball effectiveness (Thompson, Naile, Jackson), or have shaky command or stamina (Weiss, Duplantier, Hsu), and therefore have some degree of relief risk even though some of them have started overseas. Hsu is grouped with that last trio at present, but his US debut may not come until he has more time to ply his trade in the rotation. He could be a late-inning option immediately upon conversion. Weiss looked really nasty late in 2025 when he came out of the bullpen in the playoffs. Duplantier and Jackson are speculative projections based on their lack of fastball effectiveness, command, and stamina.

Barriers to Entry
Livan Moinelo, LHP, Fukuoka Hawks (NPB)
Raidel Martinez, RHP, Yomiyuri Ginats (NPB)

As we’ve noted in prior iterations of these updates, Cuban players like Moinelo (a no. 3 starter type) and Martinez (a dominant closer) are playing in Japan with the blessing of the Cuban government, and so would need to defect and establish residency somewhere else in order to sign with an MLB team.

High-Variance Names to File Away
Shunpeita Yamashita, SP, Orix Buffaloes (NPB)
Do Yeong Kim 김도영, 3B, KIA Tigers (KBO)
Shion Matsuo, C, Yokohama BayStars (NPB)
Dong Ju Moon 문동주, SP, Hanwha Eagles (KBO)

There are a lot of players who we’ve identified as worth following for future years (and we’ll continue to add and update more of them on The Board), but this group has a few key names that we want to highlight apart from the rest. Yamashita (stress reaction in his back) and Kim (hamstring) have had recurring injury issues that put a damper on their 2025 seasons. The 23-year-old Yamashita has a big league body and flashes three plus pitches; we consider him the best long-term prospect in NPB right now. Kim has a power/speed combo (he might end up playing center field) and some hit tool risk. Matsuo is a raw, athletic, 21-year-old catcher. Moon has a powerful arm action and something close to a big league starter’s frame.