NISHINOMIYA, Japan — The Hanshin Tigers said Monday they will let reigning Central League MVP Teruaki Sato pursue a move to Major League Baseball through the posting system this offseason, adding one of the most potent bats on the international market to an already crowded winter.
Sato, 27, won the Central League Triple Crown in 2026, batting .306 with 39 homers and 106 runs driven in while posting a .383 on-base percentage and a .609 slugging mark. In six seasons with Hanshin he has hit 167 home runs with an .854 OPS. He also suited up for Japan at the World Baseball Classic this year.
The left-handed hitter has spent most of his career at third base, playing 125 games there this year, and has added work in the outfield the past two seasons. Scouting reports question his defense at both spots and his swing-and-miss tendencies, yet he grades as one of the top earners in a winter market short on impact hitters.
The club did not give a date for the formal posting, which typically waits until the Japanese season wraps up. The Japan Series opens this weekend pitting the Yokohama DeNA BayStars against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, last year's champions.
After the formal posting, Sato gets 45 days to reach a deal with a big league team, and Hanshin collects a fee scaled to the size of the contract. If no deal is struck, he goes back to the Tigers for 2027.
Timing could get tricky. A transactions freeze is expected to start Dec. 1 if baseball enters a lockout, which would effectively split his negotiating window in half unless he signs before then.
He would follow a wave of Japanese stars who crossed over last winter, when Kazuma Okamoto joined Toronto on a four-year, $60 million deal, Munetaka Murakami signed with the Chicago White Sox for two years and $34 million, and Tatsuya Imai went to Houston for three years and $54 million.
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