This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO — The Cubs have spent years not only making their presence felt in markets overseas, but trying to make Chicago a desirable destination for players looking to make the jump to the Major Leagues.
Most recently, the Cubs saw lefty Shota Imanaga push to join the team two winters ago. That came after Chicago successfully recruited and signed outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who acknowledged that Yu Darvish’s time with the Cubs influenced his decision. This past season, the Cubs took on the Dodgers in the Tokyo Series in front of a global audience.
“When you’re talking about a market for Japanese players or Korean players,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas earlier this week, “there’s not 30 teams that are, in theory, going after those players. Because a lot of teams just don’t have the infrastructure set up.
“So I do think we have that advantage. We’ve done that. We’ve proven it. And the players have not only had success, but they’ve enjoyed it.”
“There’s a lot of good players,” Hoyer said. “There’s a lot of good Japanese players coming over. [There’s] some good Korean players coming over. There’s a number of good American players coming back over. So yeah, I expect to be engaged in those markets, for sure.”
The top pitching option available will be 27-year-old righty Tatsuya Imai, who is expected to be posted by the Seibu Lions on Wednesday. He spun a 1.92 ERA with 178 strikeouts against 45 walks in 163 2/3 innings last year, giving him a 2.21 ERA since the start of the ‘22 season. Imai’s fastball sits in the mid-90s and he features a six-pitch arsenal, which includes a slider and splitter.
Hoyer noted the “American players coming back” this winter, and there are two in particular who stand out this winter.
Right-hander Cody Ponce, 31, went 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts, compared to 41 walks, in 180 2/3 innings for the Hanwha Eagles last year in Korea. That came after some mixed results in Japan in the previous three years and an unspectacular MLB showing from 2020-21 with the Pirates (5.86 ERA in 55 1/3 innings).
Lefty Foster Griffin — a first-round pick by the Royals in 2014 — was brilliant in 14 outings for the Yomiuri Giants last season in Japan before a knee injury got in the way. Across 78 innings, the 30-year-old Griffin spun a 1.73 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 18 walks. He has a 2.57 ERA in the last three years for Yomiuri, featuring as many as seven pitches at times, including a splitter.
“The Japanese market, it’s exciting,” Cubs GM Carter Hawkins said, “because obviously there’s a lot more guys coming over. There’s a lot of great talent over there. We’ve shown that we have the infrastructure to be able to support them.”
