Koyo Aoyagi is realizing his MLB dream, and the Phillies hope he helps them tap into the Japanese market
It’s not for a lack of trying, but the Phillies have failed to attract talent directly from Japan’s top league. Aoyagi, a sidearm-throwing reliever, could help them break through.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — On his first morning in a major-league clubhouse, on his first trip ever to the United States, Koyo Aoyagi held his phone aloft and snapped a picture of the nameplate above his locker.
The novelty was undeniable.
Aoyagi spent nine seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, the best league in Japan. He was a three-time all-star, a Japan Series champion in 2023, and an Olympic gold medalist. He reached the zenith of his sport in his home country.
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But now, at age 31, all he really wanted was the chance to pursue his dream of playing in Major League Baseball. So, upon finally arriving Friday in Phillies camp on a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training, he wasn’t going to let the moment pass.
“For the past four years, I’ve been talking to my team in Japan that I want to play in the States,” Aoyagi said through an interpreter after speaking with a handful of Japanese reporters who are following him. “So, it’s a very exciting feeling to be here.”
Here’s the thing, though: This is all new to the Phillies, too.
Since 1995, 70 players have made the move from Japan to the majors. The Phillies are among five teams that haven’t signed a player directly from NPB to a major league contract. They’ve rostered only two Japanese players — none since 2008 — and So Taguchi and Tadahito Iguchi were originally signed by other teams.
And when the Phillies have tried to recruit talent in the Far East, their sales pitch gets lost in translation.
Last winter, for instance, they courted star right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a 12-year offer for more than $300 million, according to sources. But although Yamamoto met with the Phillies in Los Angeles, he declined to come to Philadelphia on a trip to the East Coast to visit the Mets and Yankees before eventually signing with the Dodgers.
At least Yamamoto talked to the Phillies. They couldn’t even get a meeting this winter with 25-year-old sensation Roki Sasaki.
“It was hugely disappointing,” owner John Middleton said as part of a lengthy interview this week. “You think about it: We’ve had remarkable success with pitchers, not only high level of performance but keeping them healthy. We’ve taken players who haven’t performed as well with other teams and turned them into much better pitchers. I was disappointed that we didn’t even get a look [from Sasaki], frankly.”
The Phillies have boosted their presence in Japan in recent years. When Dave Dombrowski took over baseball operations in December 2020, he charged assistant general manager Jorge Velandia with heading up international scouting with a directive to focus on Far East markets.
Velandia and international scouting director Derrick Chung make several trips to Japan per year. A few years ago, the Phillies hired Tora Otsuka, a former outfielder at the University of San Diego and son of former major league pitcher Akinori Otsuka, as a second full-time scout based in Japan.
And yet, players from Japan continue to be more enticed by Los Angeles and New York, not only because of the bright lights of those big cities but also the success of other Japanese players in those markets. Yamamoto wanted to play with Shohei Ohtani; Sasaki wanted to be teammates with Ohtani and Yamamoto.
The Phillies lack such connections. There aren’t even direct flights from Philadelphia to Japan.
“We have not really had the door opened to us as much as we had hoped,” Dombrowski said.
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It’s a chicken-and-egg situation. The Phillies won’t make inroads in the Japan market until they sign an impact Japanese player. And they can’t sign an impact Japanese player because they haven’t made inroads in Japan.
The Phillies insist that isn’t why Aoyagi is here. Dombrowski said Velandia, Chung, and the scouting staff were intrigued by the righty’s sidearm delivery, a different look than most other relievers.
And when Aoyagi was unable to land the major-league deal that he initially sought, the Phillies recognized the chance to take a flier, especially because he assured them he’s willing to open the season in triple A.
But Middleton and Dombrowski concede the Phillies could realize other benefits if Aoyagi winds up helping the bullpen.
“We think it’s a great opportunity to show somebody how welcoming our organization is to the individuals from there,“ Dombrowski said. ”So, hopefully that will also be part of the equation. But we wouldn’t do that unless we thought he had a chance to help us at some time during the season.”
Nobody is more eager than Aoyagi to see how his repertoire — mostly two-seam fastballs and sliders — plays against major league hitters. He said he was disappointed with his last few seasons with the Hanshin Tigers. Last year, he posted a 3.69 ERA in 61 innings.
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“The past few years in Japan I wasn’t able to perform to the best of my abilities, and the Phillies still saw something in me,” he said. “So, for that, I just really wanted to play [for] this team.”
It hardly mattered, then, that another Japanese pitcher didn’t come before him here. Aoyagi said the extent of his familiarity with the Phillies are the big names, notably Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto. He met Realmuto on Friday and shook hands with Zack Wheeler in the clubhouse.
The Phillies' connection to Japan has to start somewhere.
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“I wasn’t too aware of [the struggles to break through in Japan],” Aoyagi said. “But me pitching on the big-league mound will definitely bring some attention to the Phillies. That would be able to recruit Japanese players more, so that would be a big thing, as well.”
It can’t hurt.
“We’re thinking and talking about different things to finally figure out how we can unlock the door, and this is one of the things that we think could contribute,” Middleton said. “I don’t know that there’s any one thing you can do that’s the right answer. Part of it is going to be persistence. Keep knocking on the door, and hopefully, eventually you’ll be able to get it open.”