Phillies need a new identity, and Japan offers a path forward originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Look around the MLB postseason. Philadelphia fans may not want to at this point.
The Phillies’ season ended short of a championship for the fifth consecutive October, but watching the rest of the playoffs offers another reminder of where their organization continues to lag behind other successful teams around the game. It is not necessarily a domestic shortcoming.
It is the Phillies’ lack of a presence internationally, specifically in Japan.
A record eight Japanese-born players made active postseason rosters this year.
Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki are attempting to help the Dodgers win a third consecutive World Series. The Cubs were eliminated, but Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki will both reach free agency this winter. Munetaka Murakami and Tatsuya Imai helped the White Sox and Astros reach the postseason during their first years in the United States. Padres reliever Yuki Matsui rounded out the record-setting group.
Meanwhile, the Phillies have never signed a player directly from NPB to a major-league contract.
They have employed Japanese-born players before. Tadahito Iguchi arrived in a trade during the 2007 season, and So Taguchi signed with the Phillies after spending six years with the Cardinals. Neither represented the Phillies successfully recruiting an established player out of Japan and bringing him directly into their organization.
They have tried to change that more recently.
The Phillies aggressively pursued Yamamoto before the 2024 season and were willing to make a significant financial commitment to the star right-hander. Yamamoto chose the Dodgers. The following winter, the Phillies expressed interest in Sasaki, but they were not among the teams granted an in-person meeting before he also chose Los Angeles.
Those pursuits showed the Phillies understood the value of entering the Japanese market. They also illustrated how difficult it is to break into it without any history there.
Los Angeles has become a destination for Japanese players because of its sizable Japanese community, its location and travel access to their home country, and the growing alumni network the Dodgers have created. Ohtani helped make Los Angeles more attractive to Yamamoto, and the presence of both players offered Sasaki something no other interested organization could replicate.
Philadelphia does not have those built-in advantages. There are no direct flights between Philadelphia International Airport and Japan. The Phillies cannot point to a Japanese star who succeeded here and can explain the organization and city to the next player considering the move.
Their most recent attempt to establish a connection was Koyo Aoyagi, whom the Phillies signed to a minor-league contract before the 2025 season. Aoyagi posted a 7.22 ERA between Double A and Triple A and never reached Philadelphia.
That does not mean the Phillies should sign a Japanese player simply to say they have done it. It does mean they need to recognize how one successful signing could make the next pursuit considerably easier.
The Phillies had an opportunity last offseason to begin changing their history in this market while addressing a clear need in their lineup.
Japanese corner infielders Kazuma Okamoto and Murakami were both available. The Phillies did not seriously pursue either player, even though their aggressive pursuit of Bo Bichette later in the winter showed they were willing to change the look of their infield and potentially move on from Alec Bohm at third base.
Hindsight is always easier, especially with players making the transition from NPB. There were legitimate questions about how Murakami’s swing-and-miss tendencies would translate against major-league pitching and how Okamoto’s offensive production would hold up outside Japan.
Both answered enough of those questions in their first seasons.
Okamoto hit 33 home runs and drove in 92 runs for Toronto. Murakami hit 35 home runs in 127 games for the White Sox despite missing time with a hamstring injury. Those became the two highest single-season home run totals by Japanese-born players during their first years in the majors.
The Phillies did not need to know with certainty that either player would immediately produce at that level. They needed to recognize the opportunity to add a talented player who could help them on the field while also giving them credibility in a market that continues to shape the championship picture.
That opportunity exists again this offseason.
The Phillies’ core is not exactly finished, but it is becoming older, more expensive and increasingly familiar to the teams trying to beat it. After five consecutive postseason appearances without a championship, there needs to be a different feel around the club entering 2027.
That does not require the Phillies to dismantle everything. It requires them to find a new source of talent that could extend their window and prevent the organization from falling into another prolonged transition once its current stars decline.
The uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement could complicate an already expensive offseason. It also gives the Phillies another chance to establish themselves in Japan before the competition for Japanese players becomes even greater.
It might only take one successful signing. One player could lead to the next.
This winter, there are two Japanese players who fit the Phillies’ roster beyond the significance of where they were born.
Suzuki, who turned 32 in August, is one of them.
The Phillies have struggled to find any sustained success in right field since Bryce Harper became their full-time first baseman. Suzuki would give them a steady right fielder and the type of right-handed hitter their lineup could lose if Bohm departs in free agency.
After 2022, the year he debuted for the Cubs, Suzuki has averaged 28 home runs and 97 RBIs per 162 games, posting an OPS above .800 in four consecutive seasons.
Suzuki hit .270 with a .368 on-base percentage, 26 home runs and 86 RBIs this season. His 81 walks and 5.1 wins above replacement were both career highs.
His patience would carry particular value for a Phillies lineup that has repeatedly allowed its chase problems to become magnified during the postseason. Suzuki is capable of driving the baseball without expanding the strike zone as frequently as many of the hitters who have surrounded Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
He also showed considerable improvement defensively this season. His range numbers took a significant step forward, and he combined those improvements with the strong throwing arm he has carried throughout his career.
Suzuki is not likely to command the type of contract that would prevent the Phillies from making other additions. A deal of approximately four years would give them an established middle-of-the-order hitter without creating another commitment that stretches deep into a player’s late 30s.
He would address right field, replace the right-handed run production the Phillies could lose with Bohm and bring a stronger approach into a lineup that needs one.
Signing Suzuki could also help the Phillies pursue the most talented Japanese player expected to be posted this winter.
Teruaki Sato has been on their radar for some time. In May, Preston Mattingly and several other members of the organization traveled to Japan to scout the left-handed-hitting third baseman.
It is easy to understand their interest.
Sato, a member of the Hanshin Tigers, has been the most dangerous power hitter in NPB over the last two seasons. He hit 40 home runs and drove in 102 runs in 2025, then followed that performance by hitting .311 with 39 home runs, 105 RBIs and a 1.009 OPS this season.
There is swing and miss in his game, which will create questions about how quickly he can adjust to major-league velocity. His increased willingness to walk, however, has made him a more complete hitter. Sato carries exceptional bat speed and generates considerable power from a relatively quiet setup at the plate.
He also grew up admiring Harper, according to a report from Sports Nippon. That might not carry much weight once negotiations begin, but it is at least one connection to an organization still searching for every advantage it can find in Japan.
Citizens Bank Park would offer an inviting environment for Sato’s left-handed power. Harper and Schwarber have already demonstrated how much damage elite left-handed hitters can produce there, particularly when they are willing to use the opposite field instead of trying to pull every pitch.
Suzuki and Sato also have familiarity with one another through Samurai Japan. Signing Suzuki would not guarantee that Sato follows him to Philadelphia, but it would allow the Phillies to present something they have never been able to offer a Japanese free agent: an established player from his home country who already understands the organization, the clubhouse and the adjustment to living in Philadelphia.
This cannot become a marketing exercise. The Phillies, who have money coming off the books, should pursue both players because they fit the baseball team they are trying to build.
Suzuki would stabilize right field and provide a disciplined right-handed presence. Sato could become their long-term answer at third base if Bohm leaves, while giving the Phillies another hitter capable of changing a game with one swing.
Adding both could also create opportunities for the Phillies to move the rest of their roster around the diamond.
If top prospect Aidan Miller proves he is ready for the major leagues, the Phillies could consider moving Trea Turner to the outfield and installing Miller at shortstop. That could make Brandon Marsh available in a trade for bullpen help or another area of need.
One aggressive version of the lineup could look like this:
C: J.T. Realmuto (R)
1B: Bryce Harper (L)
2B: Bryson Stott (L)
SS: Aidan Miller (R)
3B: Teruaki Sato (L)
LF: Trea Turner (R)
CF: Justin Crawford (L) & Derek Hill (R)
RF: Seiya Suzuki (R)
DH: Kyle Schwarber (L)
That alignment is speculative and would require several significant decisions to fall into place. The point is not that those exact nine players need to be standing together on Opening Day.
The point is that pursuing Suzuki and Sato would address real weaknesses while beginning the identity change the Phillies need. It could make the lineup more patient, improve right field, add another source of power and build infrastructure in a market the organization has struggled to enter for decades.
There is no guarantee that signing one Japanese player will convince another to follow him. The Dodgers’ success was not built through one transaction, either. They established relationships, demonstrated commitment and allowed each successful addition to make the next one easier.
The Phillies have spent the last five years reaching October without finding the final combination necessary to win a championship. As the current core ages, the front office will need to give ownership another reason to believe that an expensive push can still end differently.
Japanese-born players have been at the center of the postseason for several years. The Phillies have continued to fall short without them.
If they are serious about changing the identity of the organization and keeping their championship window open, Japan is where that change should begin.
