Teruaki Sato's MLB Posting Could Get Complicated by Looming Labor Dispute

One of the top players in the Nippon Professional Baseball League will be making the jump to MLB this offseason. Teruaki Sato, the NPB's Most Valuable Player in 2025, will be posted by the Hanshin Tigers, according to Just Baseball.

That will add Sato to an interesting free-agent class. With baseball heading for a potential labor dispute, this comes as an interesting decision. Once posted, teams will have a 45-day window to negotiate with Sato and come to a deal. A potential lockout disrupts that window.

Sato, 27, is coming off his best season with the Hanshin Tigers. He hit .306 with 39 home runs and 106 RBI, winning the NPB Triple Crown. However, he projects as a high-risk, high-reward free agent. He carries a lot of swing-and-miss in his offensive profile, whiffing on 17.3% of the pitches he faced and making contact on just 67.0% of swings.

But MLB in general is less averse to strikeouts in exchange for hitters willing to work deep counts and put the ball in the seats. That's why Sato should be able to land a reasonable MLB deal this offseason. However, he may want to wait to see what the Collective Bargaining Agreement looks like before making that decision.

More NPB Stars Are Making the Jump to MLB

More star Japanese players have taken their talents to MLB in recent years. Since the offseason following the 2023 season, nine notable players have landed deals to play in America.

• RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers/2024)
• LHP Shota Imanaga (Cubs/2024)
• RHP Roki Sasaki (Dodgers/2025)
• RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (Orioles/2025)
• 3B Kazuma Okamoto (Blue Jays/2026)
• 1B Munetaka Murakami (White Sox/2026)
• RHP Tatsuya Imai (Astros/2026)

The World Baseball Classic's revival in 2023 likely opened the door to that possibility. That year's finals ended up pitting the U.S. against Japan for the championship. That game ended with an iconic matchup against then-teammates on the Angels, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.

With the international growth of the game in the tournament, it's not too surprising to see the world's best players make the jump to the top professional baseball league. Japanese players are now seeing how they fare against the best baseball players in the world thanks to the WBC.

Sato participated in the 2026 tournament. He went 3-for-10 with three doubles and two walks. Japan was eliminated in the quarterfinals by the eventual champion, Venezuela.

Sato's Potential MLB Fit

The success that both Murakami and Okamoto had offensively last year helps improve Sato's chances of landing an MLB deal. He's in his prime, as next season will mark his Age-28 season.

There's two routes he can go to establish his value in MLB. Sato can either try to leverage as big a contract as possible, or take a page out of Murakami's playbook.

Murakami's two-year pillow deal with Chicago serves as a potentially good starting point. In Sato's case, it would pay him a nice amount while setting him up for a major payday if he proves to be a useful MLB hitter. Okamoto still got a four-year deal at Age 30.