The Guardians have an opportunity to pursue a couple of free agents from NPB, the Japanese professional baseball league, and they should seize it.
There will be two players available this offseason from Nippon Professional Baseball who fit the bill for a need for the Cleveland Guardians. Unfortunately, it is difficult for any Guardians fan to seriously hope a Japanese player will choose Cleveland because it simply hasn’t happened. However, given the lack of available options for the Guardians in free agency, this offseason should be as good a time as any to make a run at these players and see if Cleveland can change their minds.
First, there is Munetaka Murakami, 25 year-old third baseman/first baseman from the Yakult Swallows. FanGraphs has placed a 50 future value on Murakami whose power seems likely to make an impact on a major league team. Murakami put up a 210 wRC+ with a 28.6/14.3 K/BB%. Generally speaking, NPB is considered to be similar in talent level to something between Double-A and Triple-A. If the Guardians had a third/first baseman prospect putting up a 210 wRC+ and a 14% walk rate between Double-A and Triple-A in 2025, we’d be penciling that player into the middle of the Guardians’ order for 2026. Essentially, it would be similar to what CJ Kayfus did in 2025. Murakami is a left-handed hitter, like Kayfus, as well.
So, are the Guardians better off staying with Kayfus than spending for Murakami? Well… maybe. I think Murakami has a good chance of having more power than Kayfus, but Kayfus should have fewer swing and miss issues. Murakami has only a 64% contact rate and a 17.3% swinging strike rate. That’s a lot of whiff. For comparison, Kayfus had a 72% contact rate and a 13.4% swinging strike rate at Triple-A.
If the Guardians offer on Murakami, it would be a bet that their hitting development team (ahem… welp) can help him minimize the holes in the swing and get to his prodigous power enough to make some strikeouts worth it. Murakami will probably get at least a three year contract from someone and that’s a pretty big bet for a team like Cleveland to make when they have a somewhat similar looking performer in Kayfus. But, still, I would be very excited if the Guardians pursued Murakami. He would become their first baseman (where he should be an average defender) and Kayfus would be in the outfield/DH mix (likely needed depth should Chase DeLauter, Kyle Manzardo or George Valera get hurt).
Take a look at this Murakami swing:
Perhaps a more reasonable option for the Guardians would be Kazuma Okamoto, right-handed hitting first baseman from the Yomiuri Giants. Okamoto also put up a 210 wRC+ in 2025 with a 11.3/11.3 K/BB%. He had an 80% contact rate and an 8.8% swinging strike rate. However, he is 29 years old and there are concerns about how he will handle high velocity when he gets the chance to see it more often. He had an elbow injury from a collission and played only 69 games in 2025, but still hit 15 home runs. For those counting at home, that’s roughly a 35 home run pace over 162.
How in the world would Okamoto fall into the Guardians’ price range, you might ask? Well, he is 29 years old. You’d be hard-pressed to find a team impressed by a 29 year-old dominating in Triple-A. However, it isn’t Okamoto’s fault that he hasn’t had a major league test yet. Famously, the Cleveland baseball team offered Satchel Paige a chance well past his prime after Paige dominated another professional league… and Paige promptly helped them win a title. Perhaps, this could be a repeat of history in a lesser sense (a younger player and without the tragic racial discrimination that prevented Paige from proving his hall of fame talent earliet). This time, the Guardians could give an older player a chance and that player repays them by providing right-handed power and solid first-base defense to help them get to the promised land.
I think Okamoto might interest the Guardians because he PROBABLY will get a one-year, prove-it deal. Should he have a good 2026, he could then test the free agent market and receive more lucarative, long-term deals in 2026. The Guardians should promise him full-time at-bats at first base and remind him that the Guardians are the home of Shohei Ohtani’s favorite baseball player – Jose Ramirez. For the Guardians, this signing would potentially open up the Japanest free agency pool for the team in the future. For Okamoto, he gets the chance to play for a perennially competitive team and have a full-time job on that team that he can use to show he deserves the generational wealth associated with a 3-5 year deal that would surely follow.
Okamoto hit a memorable home run off of the USA in the most recent World Baseball Classic:
Sadly, I do not expect the Guardians to sign Murakami or Okamoto. I will not predict a Japanese free agent signing with Cleveland until it actually happens because there doesn’t appear to be a connection there, at the moment. But, I’d love to hear they are making an earnest pursuit of both NPB stars this offseason, especially of Okamoto. It’s always a risk betting on a player who hasn’t proven themselves in the bigs, but teams have seen recent success with Masataka Yoshida and Seiya Suzuki at the plate, so this is a risk that I think the Guardians should be emboldened to attempt.
If you’re not going to sign Pete Alonso, see if you can convince Kazuma Okamoto to give the shores of Lake Erie a try, Chris Antonetti. He could be the rental slugger of your dreams and open up a potential new source of talent in establishing a connection to the NPB and Cleveland.