Nationals International Free Agent Signing Proves His Worth in Triple-A Debut

The Washington Nationals have had a really difficult start to their 2025 campaign, going 1-4 through their first five games, losing two of three against the Philadelphia Phillies and two of two so far against the Toronto Blue Jays. This has put them in somewhat of a predicament, as their young core has been struggling as of late, most notably Dylan Crews who has been off to a slow start.

Many of their free agent signings have started off slow too, including Josh Bell, Michael Soroka, and Lucas Sims. Another one of their offseason acquisitions via international free agency started off spring training poorly, but after being assigned to Triple-A Rochester, made a strong showing in his debut performance.

Shinnosuke Ogasawara was the first player signed directly from Asia by the Nationals, and their first Japanese-born player in franchise history. Given this, he had relatively high expectations coming in due to his performance in Japan, as well as the fact that he received so much media attention due to the history he made.

Spring training would offer him the opportunity to earn a role on the Opening Day roster, whether that would have been as a starter or a reliever. However, he had trouble getting outs, posting an 11.25 ERA with a 2.667 WHIP in 12.0 innings pitched, with 10 strikeouts to eight walks, and 19 total runs allowed, 15 of which were earned.

This slow start to spring was unfortunate, but sometimes can be expected when transitioning from one league to another. Washington would end up starting him off in Triple-A which will give him the chance to learn and get back up to speed while developing his game a bit more. In his debut start, he would show why the Nationals signed him, as he produced well and managed his runs allowed at a high level.

In 6.0 innings pitched, Ogasawara gave up only one earned run, picking up six strikeouts with no walks allowed, good for a 1.50 ERA and a 0.833 WHIP. He would also be awarded the win for this strong performance, and according to Bobby Blanco of MASN, 41 of his 67 pitches were strikes on the day.

Overall this was a strong debut performance for the 27-year old, and given some time to work with the farm system, he could end up finding his way back onto the Major League roster in the near future if this level of production continues. Keeping the walks and runs to a minimum while showing good strikeout stuff is always a positive for any pitcher.