Japanese Pitcher Pirates Should Now Go After

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have a strong pitching staff for next season and a good bullpen that makes them a contender for the postseason.

Right-handed pitchers like Justin Lawrence, Isaac Mattson, Carmen Mlodzinski and Dennis Santana had great seasons out of the bullpen for the Pirates in 2025.

The Pirates also have two new left-handed relief pitchers in Mason Montgomery, who they got in trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, and Gregory Soto, who they signed for one-year, $7.75 million in free agency.

Pittsburgh still needs another addition for their bullpen, preferrably at closer, which one Japanese pitcher could fill.

Japanese Pitcher the Pirates Should Sign

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported that free agent relief pitcher Takahiro Norimoto of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the highest level Japanese baseball, has received an offer from an MLB team that he's considering.

Whether that is the Pirates or not is unknown, but the Pirates going after Norimoto would make sense.

Norimoto has a great deal of experience, spending the past 13 seasons since 2013 with Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in NPB and is a six-time All-Star.

He has spent most of that time as a starter, but spent the past two seasons as a closer, with 48 saves in 53 opportunities, just five blown saves.

Norimoto has three pitches he relies on, a four-seam fastball, a splitter, or split-finger fastball, and a slider.

He had great success with his fastball early on in his career, leading the Pacific League in strikeouts for five straight seasons from 2014-18.

While his fastball used to reach upwards of 98 mph, it sits closer to 92 mph at this point of his career, which is why his K/9 rate was around 9-10 those seasons and is down to 7.6 in 2024 and 6.9 in 2025.

The Pirates would benefit from a veteran presence in the bullpen, with Norimoto now 35 years old and would be the oldest pitcher on the roster, as Lawrence is currently the eldest Pirates' pitcher at 31 years old.

He also would likely come at a much cheaper cost than other international free agents, as he doesn't have a posting fee.

The Pirates already missed out on Japanese talent in sluggers like Kazuma Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami, and Nakamoto would give them a great chance at engaging a growing market overseas.