Nationals News: Shinnosuke Ogasawara making his MLB debut

The Washington Nationals will call up their first Japanese player since 2005

Since Tomo Ohka in 2005, the Washington Nationals have not had a Japanese player on the MLB club. Well, that is until today because the Nats are calling up Japanese southpaw Shinnosuke Ogasawara.

The Nationals signed Ogasawara to a 2-year $3.5 million deal back in January. It was an interesting move for an organization that has not dove very deep into the Japanese market at all. Ogasawara is more of a soft tosser than a Yoshinobu Yamamoto type ace, but it was still interesting.

However, Ogasawara really struggled in Spring Training while competing for a roster spot. He put up an 11.25 ERA in 5 spring starts. There is an obvious adjustment period to the North American game for these Japanese starters, but it was not promising. Ogasawara’s fringy stuff did not look like it played well.

Ogasawara has made 6 minor league starts in a year where he has been battling injuries. He has been alright in those starts with a 4.50 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 24 innings. It is still cool to see the 27 year old in the big leagues. I am fascinated to see what he can do.

Interestingly, he got the call over Cade Cavalli despite not making a Triple-A start since April 13th. He has made a few starts since coming back from injury but those have been at lower levels on rehab.

I am curious to see if they use Ogasawara as Trevor Williams long term replacement, or if this is just a spot start. After the double header, finding a starter for this game was always going to be interesting. It would have been short rest for Williams, who is not hurt.

The Nats have yet to announce who is starting in their next series in St. Louis. Maybe Cavalli will get a shot there. However, it is fascinating to see Ogasawara get the call and I am looking forward to seeing how he does. He is a big personality and seems like a good character, but is the stuff there?