Unlike their hitting counterparts, the hype surrounding foreign pitchers in NPB is tamed, with most just filling in back of the rotation spots or holding a setup role in the bullpen.
Despite this, the NPB has recently been able to foster a couple of elite talents on the pitching side that would normally be on MLB rosters, some are due to government conflicts like with the US and Cuba, and others might be due to MLB teams being unwilling to sign players with off the field issues like star closer Roberto Osuna.

So are foreign pitchers successful in NPB? This question goes deeper than just a “Yes or No” answer, so let’s break it down:
*Disclaimer: for a pitcher to qualify, one must throw either 70IP as a starter or 25IP as a reliever.
Where do these pitchers come from?
There were a total of 29 qualified* foreign pitchers in NPB in 2022.
As you might expect, most (62%) foreign pitchers in Japan are from the USA, while 17% are from the Dominican Republic, followed by 10% from Cuba and a single pitcher for each of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Taiwan.
A total of 23/29 (79%) pitched at somepoint in MLB. Out of the six who didn’t, three were Cuban, one was from Taiwan and the others were SP Joe Gunkel, who reached AAA and SP C.C Mercedes, who reached low-A ball in 2015.
How are foreign pitchers used in NPB?
In 2022, 12 foreign pitchers were starters and the other 17 were relievers.
Most of the starters were used as back-end of the rotation options, NPB teams like to employ 6-man rotations and the foreigner starters are usually there to make up the numbers.
As for the bullpen, some managed to lock down closer spots, like with Raidel Martinez for the Dragons, Roberto Osuna for the Marines and Livan Moinelo for the Hawks, but most acted as setup men.
How did they pitch in 2022?
Starters:
*Bold = leader among foreigners / Bold + Italic = NPB leader
Name | Team | Nationality | MLB FB/Velo | GS | IP | K% | ERA | FIP- | WAR |
C.C Mercedes | Giants | Dominican Republic | - | 20 | 110 | 16.2 | 3.18 | 99 | 1.8 |
Matt Shoemaker | Giants | USA | 91.9 | 18 | 95 | 16.0 | 4.25 | 132 | 0.1 |
Joe Gunkel | Tigers | USA | - | 16 | 92 | 14.0 | 2.73 | 102 | 1.3 |
Aaron Wilkerson | Tigers | USA | 90.0 | 14 | 70 | 18.5 | 4.08 | 96 | 1.3 |
Jacob Waguespack | Buffaloes | USA | 92.6 | 10 | 72 | 26.2 | 2.97 | 84 | 1.5 |
Colin Rea | Hawks | USA | 93.2 | 16 | 100 | 19.6 | 3.96 | 117 | 0.5 |
Cody Ponce | Fighters | USA | 93.3 | 14 | 83 | 19.2 | 3.35 | 114 | 0.6 |
Dietrich Enns | Lions | USA | 94.6 | 22 | 122 | 18.2 | 2.94 | 122 | 0.3 |
Enny Romero | Marines | Dominican Republic | 95.2 | 20 | 115 | 16.0 | 3.36 | 100 | 1.5 |
Drew Anderson | Carp | USA | 92.8 | 13 | 70 | 20.1 | 3.60 | 125 | 0.3 |
Fernando Romero | Baystars | Dominican Republic | 96.6 | 18 | 92 | 12.9 | 4.87 | 129 | 0.2 |
Cy Sneed | Swallows | USA | 93.2 | 23 | 133 | 17.4 | 3.54 | 112 | 1.4 |
Average: | - | - | 93.3 | 17 | 96 | 17.9 | 3.57 | 111 | 0.9 |
As you’ll see in the table above, the results are largely underwhelming, with not a single starter obtaining more than 2WAR, and only five pitching more than 100 innings.
That does not necessarily mean they were bad though. Every starter managed an ERA under 4.00 save for Aaron Wilkerson, Matt Shoemaker and Fernando Romero.
It’s important to note that none of these guys were expected to be their teams ace or potential stars like fans tend to do with foreign hitters.
They filled in the gaps and that’s ok for most NPB teams, since the pitching talent in Japan is deep.
Relievers:
*Bold = leader among foreigners / Bold + Italic = NPB leader
Name | Team | Country | MLB FB/Velo | SV | HLD | IP | K% | ERA | FIP- | WAR |
Rubby De La Rosa | Giants | Dominican Republic | 97.0 | 1 | 11 | 27 | 22.2 | 2.30 | 104 | 0.2 |
Raul Alcantara | Tigers | Dominican Republic | 95.3 | 1 | 18 | 38 | 18.6 | 4.70 | 120 | 0 |
Kyle Keller | Tigers | USA | 94.7 | 3 | 8 | 32 | 35.9 | 3.31 | 54 | 1.2 |
Raidel Martinez | Dragons | Cuba | - | 39 | 9 | 55 | 29.1 | 0.97 | 63 | 2.1 |
Yariel Rodriguez | Dragons | Cuba | - | 0 | 45 | 54 | 27.5 | 1.15 | 62 | 2.1 |
Jesse Biddle | Buffaloes | USA | 93.0 | 0 | 16 | 40 | 24.5 | 4.02 | 116 | 0 |
Livan Moinelo | Hawks | Cuba | - | 24 | 9 | 52 | 43.1 | 1.03 | 40 | 2.4 |
Connor Menez | Fighters | USA | 91.0 | 0 | 6 | 25 | 28.9 | 1.08 | 87 | 0.4 |
Burch Smith | Lions | USA | 93.6 | 1 | 4 | 38 | 23.7 | 3.29 | 66 | 1.0 |
Tayron Guerrero | Marines | Colombia | 99.1 | 3 | 27 | 46 | 32.5 | 3.52 | 69 | 1.3 |
Roberto Osuna | Marines | Mexico | 96.8 | 10 | 13 | 29 | 29.9 | 0.91 | 47 | 1.3 |
Nik Turley | Carp | USA | 94.4 | 0 | 16 | 37 | 20.6 | 3.11 | 155 | -0.7 |
Edwin Escobar | Baystars | Venezuela | 92.7 | 2 | 38 | 63 | 19.0 | 2.42 | 112 | 0.2 |
Scott McGough | Swallows | USA | 93.9 | 38 | 6 | 53 | 27.4 | 2.35 | 78 | 1.5 |
A.J. Cole | Swallows | USA | 93.7 | 0 | 8 | 36 | 22.1 | 2.75 | 101 | 0.3 |
Alan Busenitz | Eagles | USA | 95.3 | 0 | 14 | 31 | 20.0 | 2.27 | 80 | 0.5 |
Chia Hao-Sung | Eagles | Taiwan | - | 0 | 24 | 51 | 18.2 | 2.61 | 105 | 0.2 |
Average | - | - | 94.7 | 7 | 17 | 42 | 26.6 | 2.46 | 86 | 0.8 |
When you compare foreign starters to relievers, the disparities are pretty clear.
Foreign relievers in 2022 averaged 0.8WAR, basically the same as the starters despite pitching 54(!) innings less on average.
Relievers boasted an 86FIP- in 2022, which means they were 14% better than the average NPB pitcher, and 25% better than their starting counterparts, which is to be expected since starters are less effective due to higher workloads but it’s still a notable gap.
The main contributors to this dominance were the cuban trio of Raidel Martinez, Yariel Rodriguez and Livan Moinelo.
All of these guys would be on high-leverage roles in MLB bullpens if not for the US/Cuba embargo, in which cuban players can’t play in North America unless they defect.
Luckily for NPB, Japan’s relationship with Cuba is on better terms, which allows cuban players to pursue professional opportunies freely in Japan.



Verdict
Foreign pitchers in NPB tend to perform up to expectations.
Whether it’s in the back of the rotation or closing out a game, foreigners fill in smaller but still important roles in NPB pitching staffs.
They aren’t superstars, but they do their job, Bill Belichick would be proud.
I notice you didn’t mention Thyago Viera of Brazil under relievers. His fastball hit 102 with both the Mariners and White Sox and threw an NPB record 103.1 year before last.
Hi Josh, glad you read the article. I didn’t talk about Thyago because he failed to throw the required amount of innings to be qualified, he threw just 7.1IP for the Giants this year, he has electric stuff but he really struggled in 2022 and the Giants did not re-sign him for 2023.