Washington Nationals’ Shinnosuke Ogasawara Dominates in Injury Rehab Start

The long road back to Triple-A started for Washington Nationals pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara on Saturday.

Ogasawara began a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League, where he started a game for the FCL Nationals against the FCL Marlins, which went 13 innings and saw the Nats win, 7-6.

Ogasawara likely didn’t see the end of the game. He started the contest but only pitched two innings in his first live game action since April 13 with Triple-A Rochester. He was played on the 7-day injured list on April 17 with an oblique injury.

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In two frames he allowed one hit, no runs, no walks and struck out two. The FCL is populated mostly by rookie-level minor league players.

It’s the first step for the 27-year-old Ogasawara, who drew plenty of buzz with the Nationals as their first Japanese player signed straight out of Asia. But he was beaten out for a rotation spot in spring training and was assigned to Rochester.

He started four games with the Red Wings before the injury, going 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA. He struck out 14 and walked four in 17 innings. Batters were hitting .262 against him.

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Before joining the Nationals, he played in the NPB with the Chunichi Dragons.

His track record in Japan, at least on paper, didn’t look that impressive. He had a losing record with Chunichi, going 46-65 in NPB action with a 3.62 ERA. He struck out 757 and walked 308 in 951.1 innings.

The 2022 season represented his high mark as a player. He went 10-8 with a 2.72 ERA in 148.2 innings. He struck out 144 and walked 40.

The following season he was selected to the NPB All-Star Game.

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During spring training, general manager Mike Rizzo said that they signed him in part because of his repertoire of pitchers.

“He’s not a guy that knocks your eyes out with the radar gun or that type of thing, but this guy can pitch, and I think that he's going to be an important part for us,” Rizzo said.

The Nationals are not in need of rotation help — at least from a health standpoint. The rotation includes MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Michael Soroka, Mitchell Parker and Trevor Williams, Gore is knocking on the door of his first All-Star Game appearance.

Parker (4-7, 4.84) and Williams (3-7, 5.71) may be the most vulnerable if Washington feels it needs to make a change when Ogasawara is ready.

But after two months of inactivity, it’s going to be a while.

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