Toronto Blue Jays

Blue Jays agree to sign Japanese pitcher to 2-year deal

Published Dec. 28, 2019 2:04 p.m. ET

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a $4.85 million, two-year contract Saturday with veteran pitcher Shun Yamaguchi of Japan.

The 32-year-old right-hander was made available to all major league clubs this offseason after he was posted by his Japanese team.

Last season, he pitched 170.0 innings with a 2.91 ERA, 60 walks and 188 strikeouts over 26 starts for the Yomiuri Giants. Yamaguchi has played 14 pro seasons in Japan, where he has a 64-58 record and 3.35 ERA over 427 appearances for Yokohama, DeNA and Yomiuri.

He is to become the sixth Japanese-born player to play for the Blue Jays and the fourth pitcher to do so, joining Mike Nakamura (2004), Tomo Ohka (2007) and Ryota Igarashi (2012).