Koyo Aoyagi’s last 48 hours have been incredibly busy. The 31-year-old pitcher arrived in the United States on Friday morning and immediately joined his new Phillies teammates at BayCare Ballpark.
He unpacked his things in the clubhouse, met a few Phillies players and Dave Dombrowski, then went out for a long-toss session.
“It was my first day so I didn’t really know where I was supposed to go, but I was really excited,” Aoyagi said. “There are so many new things here.”
The Phillies signed Aoyagi in mid-January to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. The right-hander had spent nine seasons pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball with a 3.08 ERA, making three All-Star teams and winning a championship in 2023. However, he was demoted to the minor leagues each of the last two seasons.
For four years, Aoyagi expressed his desire to pitch in the United States to his team, Hanshin. However, due to his underperformance in the past two seasons, no major-league team signed him to a guaranteed deal.
Aoyagi will compete for the final spot in the Phillies’ bullpen during spring training, but if he doesn’t make the team, he is willing to go to the minor leagues.
“The past few years in Japan, I wasn’t able to perform to the best of my abilities and the Phillies still saw something in me,” Aoyagi said. “For that, I really want to play for this team.”
From Hideo Nomo to Masahiro Tanaka to Shohei Ohtani to Yoshinobu Yamamoto to Roki Sasaki, the Phillies haven’t been a major player for top Japanese talent trying to make the transition to Major League Baseball.
They pursued Yamamoto last offseason, offering him a massive deal, but Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers for 12 years and $325 million. Sasaki, a top international free agent, also joined the Dodgers. The Phillies showed interest in Sasaki but didn’t make his shortlist.
Aoyagi’s potential appearance in the major leagues could help the Phillies build connections in Japan. While they wouldn’t bring him in just for that reason, it was part of the team’s interest in giving him a chance.
“We’ve liked him. He was looking for a big-league opportunity, it didn’t come for him, so we felt we liked him enough to bring him in and give him an opportunity,” said Dave Dombrowski. “He is open-minded to go to Triple A. We feel that he gives us an opportunity to provide depth in the organization.”
Philadelphia Phillies players celebrate after winning the game“I think also it’s a great opportunity for the organization as we try to grow in the Far East to have someone come into camp like this. There has not been — it’s not like we tried to sign a bunch of them — but we have tried to sign a couple (of Japanese players) and we have not really had the door open to us as much as we had hoped.
We really increased our operations in the Far East, we scout there a lot more, and we think it’s a great opportunity to show how welcoming our organization is. Hopefully, that will also be part of the equation. But the reality is we wouldn’t do that unless we thought he had an opportunity to help us at some point during the season.”
Aoyagi is a side-armer who throws a two-seam fastball and a slider. His unique throwing style could give the Phillies bullpen a different look. The Phillies also have another side-armer, Jose Cuas, in camp, who has appeared in 132 big-league games over the past three seasons.
“You’re not gonna have seven guys who throw 100 with great sliders, so you’ve got to mix it up a little bit,” said manager Rob Thomson.
Whether in the majors or minors, Aoyagi is eager to face the best competition. He would take pride in being the first player from Japan to play for the Phillies. While they’ve had Tadahito Iguchi and So Taguchi, both were already in the majors before joining the team.
“I wasn’t too aware of that but me pitching on a big-league mound would definitely bring some attention to the Phillies and that would be able to recruit Japanese players more, so that would be a big thing for me,” Aoyagi said.
“In the States, there are so many countries represented. I’m excited to see how my stuff is against them.”
