TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher Shun Yamaguchi on a two-year contract worth $6.350 million, the team announced Saturday.
The 32 year old pitched 170.0 innings with a 2.91 ERA, 60 walks, and 188 strikeouts over 26 starts for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan last season.
Yamaguchi has played 14 seasons professionally in Japan, where he owns a 64-58 record and a 3.35 ERA over his 427 total appearances for Yokohama, DeNA and Yomiuri.
The native of Nakatsu, Japan was made available to all MLB clubs this off-season after being posted by his Japanese team.
Yamaguchi is set to become the sixth Japanese-born player to play for the Blue Jays, and the fourth pitcher to do so, joining Mike Nakamura (2004), Tomo Ohka (2007), and Ryota Igarashi (2012).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2019.