The Giants are Cooking Something Big...

The San Francisco Giants are cooking up something big. With a clear need in the rotation, Buster Posey is thinking outside of the box. He is now officially scouting one of the most consistent arms from the NPB over the last few seasons. We're going to break down that report and what he's done over in Japan here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel. I am your host, Michael Monreal. And if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest. We are so, so glad you found your way back to the channel. Now, before we get into today's video, let me know down in the comments, do you want to see the Giants finally add an NPB arm? We've been waiting a few years for this, but let me know if you want to see it happen down in the comment section below. Also, if you haven't yet, make sure to go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. About 75% of you guys watch the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel. Completely free, takes just a second of your time, and really does help us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. So if you enjoy, hit those buttons. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everybody here at Digest Media. Now, let's get right into today's video. Of course, it's that time of the year where we're breaking down all of the free agency rumors, all the trade market rumors, all of that involving the San Francisco Giants and how they can better this team heading into 2027. But there's one market we have not actually talked about this winter, and that is the NPB and those coming over from the Asian Professional Leagues. Today, we're talking about a pretty talented starter. He may not knock your socks off with velocity, but he's still been one of the most consistent pitchers in Asia. And we're going to break down what he's done in recent years and why he is a fit for the Giants in today's video. Now, ESPN expects Hiroki Ito to be posted this offseason. And I know that the lockout makes things confusing, but according to Jeff Passan a few weeks ago, Right-hander Hiroki Ito, one of the best starters in Japan since his 2021 debut, is expected to be posted as well, sources told ESPN. So, what does this mean for the Giants, for Major League Baseball, for all the teams that are looking to add Ito? First of all, no announcement has officially, you know, came. There's no posting that's official. He is not yet available to Major League Baseball teams. However, a lot of professional organizations are preparing for his stateside arrival. Recent reports indicate that around half the league have actually scouted him and some of the other best starters coming over from the NPB, so there will 1000% be a market for Ito in MLB. It just depends what teams are actually willing to pay the price to get him to their club. His fastball sits right around 92 miles an hour, so again, I mentioned we're going to get a little bit deeper into it, but he's not a guy who's going to wow you with velocity like the Yoshinobu Yamamoto's or even the Tatsuya Imai's that we've seen in recent years. He does have a pretty wide offering though, kind of a kitchen sink type of pitcher. Slider, splitter, four other pitches. We're going to break down all of his arsenal in today's video. Now, clearly the Giants have a need in their rotation. They have several needs in their rotation. First of all, Adrian Hauser ended the year on the injured list. Of course, he should be back next season and will likely have a spot in the rotation. But you look at some of the names on this list. The Carson Wisenut on the 60-day IL. Hayden Birdsong should be back next year. But Blade Tidwell, this doesn't even include the Trevor McDonalds. The Giants have a handful of their typical starting pitching depth on the injured list, and they need to add at least two to three starters heading into next year if they want any chance of forming a rotation by opening day. Now, we have gotten other reports that the fighters are, of course, going to have to approve his posting before or after the lockout. I would assume it's before, and it gets posted sooner rather than later, because once the lockout ends, teams only have three weeks until opening day, so it's going to be a very short window for Ito to sign. But if he does get posted right after the World Series, the Giants have officially scouted him, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, which I'm sure that they do their due diligence on all of the guys who are potentially coming over from the NPB. But this was one specific name that Susan Slusser pointed out that the Giants have done their work on and have been over to Japan to scout in the NPB. Now, this is kind of a newer name, one we haven't talked about, but this is a strategy for the Giants to help strengthen their rotation. if they don't want to dive into the weaker free agent class. Now, yes, it is a relatively weak free agent class, but the starting pitching group is probably the strongest positional group of this free agent class, so they can go either way. But we have been hearing for years at this point that the Giants have wanted to bring in a guy from Japan from the NPB and they have not been able to do so. Of course, they were in on Tatsuya Yamae for a little bit. Of course, they brought in Jung Koo Lee from the KBO, but they have yet to bring in a true, true star from the NPB. Now, there are some things that make Ito specifically exciting for the San Francisco Giants and his workload is one of those feats. So over the last few seasons, he has been very, very consistent for the fighters in 2021, 146 innings, a 2-9-0, 155 innings the next year to 2-9-5, then 153 at a 3-4-6. In 2024, 176 innings at a 2-7-1 and then 2025, 196 innings at a 2-5-2. So obviously that 2025 season sticks out as his best season in the NPB. But he also put together a very strong year, this most recent campaign for the fighters. In 2026, 172 innings, 26 starts. He was 10-10 with a 3-2-3 ERA, struck out 8.3 hitters per night, walked only 1.7 batters per night. So if you want to point out something that specifically makes him a fit for the Giants, first of all, he's durable, but also he does not walk a lot of guys. Tony Vitello, Buster Posey, they've all been very clear that next year The Giants are going to be much, much more around the strike zone with their arms. He also had a 2-8-1 FIP and a 2-9-8 expected FIP, kind of showing that he didn't get lucky. He was actually getting that weak contact. He was getting those outs, and he did what he was supposed to do. So there are several reasons why he is a fit for the Giants, but the durability does stick out as one of the most important feats. Again, six consecutive qualifying seasons, five straight years where he threw at least 150 innings. outside of Logan Webb the Giants have not had that in a very very long time i mentioned his 2025 season sticks out as the best of his career in the NPB he actually won the Sawamura Award over in the NPB of that season which is basically the Cy Young equivalent for the NPB so again he's put together some very very good seasons and i know a lot of people look at these guys who have put together strong seasons in the NPB and immediately think okay he can come over and be an ace that's not really the case for a guy like Hiromi Ito yes he's talented and yes he can be a mainstay in this rotation but I would lower your expectations a little bit this is a guy who can really bolster the middle to back end of the rotation not necessarily the top so if you're looking at this video and saying hey this is an ace the Giants need to add that's not this guy he's more of a three a four a five in a rotation especially when he makes his way to Major League Baseball but again the Giants clearly need some help in the rotation because last year their run differential was absolutely abysmal they scored just around 3.4 runs per game especially in their last 15 games and allowed 4.7 they had a run differential of negative 91 meaning they were giving up a lot of runs and they were not really scoring a lot of runs so that is something that absolutely needs to change next season now just baseball.com actually put out a pretty interesting article on the NPB class coming over this year and they highlighted Ito's command as a very nice part of his game. He had just a 4.8% walk rate, which is in the 88th percentile of NPB pitchers. He had a 67.3% first pitch strike rate, 93rd percentile. Those two things are exactly what Tony Vitello wants to see from his rotation next season. He had a 16.9% K to BB rate, which isn't the best, but still in about the 74th percentile of the MLB and his FIP in the 74th percentile. So this is a guy who does a lot of things well. He's just not going to overpower guys or necessarily rack up the strikeouts now one of the most concerning parts of his game is the fastball velocity you see at the bottom there 92.1 miles an hour for his fastball that is pretty slow especially in today's game where the average fastball velocity is right around 94 to 95 miles an hour you want to see guys typically sitting at least 93 miles an hour to find success now of course there are outliers we've seen Tugboat Wilkinson have success this is a guy who is not going to rely on velocity and a lot of that is because of his six pitch mix he throws a four seamer of course we just mentioned at 92 miles an hour he throws a slider a splitter a cutter a curve a change up and a two seamer which he splits with the four seam so this is a guy who legitimately throws the kitchen sink and if you know his command is as good as everyone says it is if he comes in throwing this stuff where he wants to then he's gonna find relative success in major league baseball the only problem is if he can't land a lot of those off-speed pitches and he's just sitting 92 miles an hour MLB level hitters are going to tee off on Hiromi Ito now another piece of this just based article yori karasawa who wrote the article explained his ceiling his concerns all of that for Ito making his way to major league baseball he said with plus command a crafty mix and a workhorse mentality Ito has the ingredients to become a dependable back-end starter so again what i said we are not expecting an ace here we're not expecting a good two even we're probably expecting the guy to sit in the three to five range of a decent rotation in major league baseball however there are some concerns Ito's below average velocity and fly ball tendencies leave little margin for error against major league baseball power hitters and you mentioned the fly ball tendencies here that's one reason why he might be interested in going to Oracle Park because we know that that is clearly clearly clearly a pitcher friendly ballpark now lastly Karasawa of Just Baseball said quote a very good outcome for him would look like a Kenta Maeda light now I know that doesn't give a lot of fans the most encouragement but Maeda has been a guy who's been around the league for a good bit now and if he's your number four or number five starter then you probably have a pretty strong rotation the thing is if the Giants bring in Ito that cannot be their big rotation addition they need to bring in a Michael King or a Kevin Gosman or Trevor Rogers or Freddy Peralta or one of the other free agents to help bolster the top end of rotation instead of the back end so again just kind of running over why Ito is a fit for Buster Posey and the Giants he is durable he throws a lot of innings he has really good command which is something the Giants did not have this past season and they're not going to give up any prospects in bringing in Ito which is something we've talked about with the trade market being so active this offseason because of the lockout he also bolsters the back end of the rotation which is something that's been relatively weak in recent seasons for the San Francisco Giants so let me know down in the comments do you think the Giants should place a priority on Hiromi Ito Absolutely, only at the right price, or focus on guys who have done it and proved it in Major League Baseball. That's going to do it for today's video if you enjoyed make sure to go down below hit that like button hit that subscribe button and leave your comments with your thoughts on Hiromi Ito potentially being a San Francisco Giant after this offseason thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time