Major League Baseball teams were informed Thursday that Kazuma Okamoto and Kona Takahashi have been officially posted, joining Munetaka Murakami and Tatsuya Imai.
They bring the total number of Nippon Professional Baseball players heading stateside via the posting system this offseason to four.
With a 45-day negotiation window, Murakami must sign by December 22, Imai by January 2, and Okamoto and Takahashi by January 4.
If any of them fail to reach an agreement by their respective deadlines, the player will return to their NPB club.
Okamoto has spent his entire professional career with the Yomiuri Giants, slashing an excellent .277/.361/.521 with 248 home runs across 1,074 games.
He’s also the first position player the storied franchise has ever posted.
The 29-year-old has appeared at first base, third base, and left field over his 11 seasons in Tokyo, though he’s primarily settled in at first in recent years, where he projects as an average defender.
Okamoto only played in 69 games this past year after missing time with an elbow injury, but his .327/.416/.598 slash line with 15 home runs showed his bat remains potent.
Though Okamoto’s ceiling may not match the generational talent of Murakami’s, many evaluators believe he offers a higher MLB floor thanks to his superior plate skills and defensive versatility.
The Nara, Japan native struck out at just an 11.3 percent clip in 2025 and owns a solid 17.7 percent career strikeout rate compared to Murakami’s 25.8 percent.
Since 2023, Okamoto has been 18 percent better than Murakami by wRC+.
He’s also consistently ranked among Japan’s top hitters in AIR percent and Pull percent, indicators that should translate to strong in-game power even without elite raw pop.
That said, with Okamoto set to turn 30 in his debut MLB season, his contract value is expected to fall well short of the 25-year-old superstar Murakami.
MLB Trade Rumors currently projects him for a four-year, $64 million deal.
A six-time All-Star, Okamoto led the Central League in home runs in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
He homered off Colorado’s Kyle Freeland to help Japan beat the U.S. 3-2 in the 2023 World Baseball Classic final.
Potential fits for Okamoto include the New York Yankees, who have a hole at first base with Paul Goldschmidt being a free agent.
The Cubs and Mets have also been cited as possible landing spots for the versatile corner infielder.
Takahashi had submitted multiple posting requests to the Saitama Seibu Lions in recent years but was denied until now.
He likely gained approval because he gained domestic free-agent eligibility and the club stood to lose him regardless.
From 2022-23, the right-hander was among NPB’s top starters, posting a 2.20 ERA over 330 2/3 innings, but his performance has dipped in recent years.
In 2024, he was an abysmal 0-11 with a 3.87 ERA (76 ERA+), albeit with some bad batted ball luck.
While he rebounded to a 3.04 ERA over 148 frames in 2025, that translated to just a 98 ERA+ in the dead-ball environment, and his strikeout rate slipped further from 16.9 percent to 14.3 percent.
Among 47 NPB starters with at least 100 innings pitched, Takahashi’s 7.6 percent strikeout minus walk rate ranked seventh-worst.
Still, pitching-savvy organizations could find Takahashi to be an intriguing under-the-radar project.
He trained at Driveline during the 2022-23 offseason, and despite his fastball’s poor shape, he averages 93 mph and can touch 97.
He complements it with a splitter that works as a ground ball weapon and a slider that grades out as his best whiff pitch, along with a cutter, sinker, curveball, and slurve.
The 28-year-old profiles in the Kohei Arihara, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, and Naoyuki Uwasawa tier of Japanese arms.
However, if the right adjustments are made, he could settle in as a swingman or back-end starter, making him a realistic candidate for a short-term MLB deal worth under $10 million.
At the very least, a minor league pact remains possible.
Takahashi is 73-77 with a 3.39 ERA in 11 seasons with the Lions.
Under MLB’s posting agreement with Nippon Professional Baseball, the posting fee would be 20 percent of the first $25 million of a major league contract, including earned bonuses and options.
The percentage drops to 17.5 percent of the next $25 million and 15 percent of any amount over $50 million.
There would be a supplemental fee of 15 percent of any earned bonuses, salary escalators and exercised options.
Basically every team in MLB is seeking pitching depth, so the market for Takahashi could be robust from that standpoint.
He doesn’t figure to get a huge deal if a team is able to sign him before the negotiating window expires on January 4 at 5 p.m. ET.
The posting window for both players opens at 8 a.m. ET on Friday, November 21.
