The Padres NEED His Bat...

The Padres have a massive opportunity as these players will be made available and can be signed by the Padres and would fit very nicely onto this team. Who are they? How good are they? Can we get them? Let's talk about it. Hi, welcome back to another episode of Padres Digest with your host Andrew. Today we are talking more Japanese players because we're getting super close to the posting time where people can start getting signed. So let's stay on top of it like I like doing i guess i don't know before we get too deep into video uh please subscribe as always we just passed 5,500 so thank you guys so much for that maybe we'll do something special for 6,000 you guys can let me know what you would like uh also follow us on X Instagram Facebook Padres Digest so yeah let's just jump right into it japanese pitchers could be available in november who well we'll get there right so 2026 side by side baseball reference we have Taida who is a 1.36 ERA 146 innings pitched 24.8 percent strikeout rate Ito which is a 3.18 ERA 172.2 innings pitched 21.8 percent strikeout rate Takahashi who has a 2.54 ERA 138.1 innings pitched 20.7 strikeout rate so three very solid pitchers and then Maki who has a .927 OPS 30 home runs in 108 games so the clock on Japan's pitchers and other people but Kono Takahashi is a free agent Taito and Ito expected to be posted posting window is in 45 days uh or has 45 days to sign with MLB team and the CBA expires on December 1st so who can we get who are they well we kind of mentioned this one already but Kono Takahashi can sign with any MLB team now your first thought obviously who is Kono Takahashi he's a right-handed pitcher from the Saitama Seibu Lions and the NPB since 2015 29 years old born february 3rd 1997 he's six foot two 198 and throws right, two-time NPB All-Star 2019 2026 and full international free agent, no posting fee needed so he's a free agent for the entire world basically and he was just uh All-Star last year or this year I should say, can I say last year yet you know what I mean uh but yeah like we said 2.54 ERA, 9 and 6 record, 138.1 innings pitched 114 strikeouts, 47 walks, 12 home runs, 20.7 strikeout rate, walk rate of 8.5, WHIP of one point we'll say 1.01 or 1.08, three complete games and his NPB career he's had a 3.30 ERA so he's a very solid pitcher, is he amazing, is he incredible? No, but he's a very solid pitcher, someone who has tons of experience and would be a nice fit for a team that needs people who can eat innings right now his strikeout rate like we said was uh 20.7 last year, 14.3 and 2025 his career is 17.5 which means that he is striking out more people recently than he was before and the walk rate has gone up probably from the increased uh velocity and movement again I'm not saying that's for sure but that's what I would assume is happening so the MLB average last year was 22.2 so he's a little below average on strikeouts but he's getting better right and we have who, Ruben Yabla and honestly Yu Darvish so I could see him improving all the time at all every single year isn't likely to command a huge contract which is something very nice from us because not that we don't have money because we have new ownership but we don't want to spend a trillion dollars on a pitcher right so I like him, is he the best pick no but I like him right moving on to uh Ito uh Hiromi Ito expected to be posted in November obviously your next question is who is Ito he is from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 29 years old as well five foot nine 180 bats left throws right the 2025 uh Sawamura Award winner NPB's top pitcher award we'll call it the Cy Young first Fighters pitcher to win it since Yu Darvish in 2007 2007 yes 2007 i cannot read anymore i don't know what happened to me uh but in his 2026 year like we said 3.18 ERA 172.2 innings pitched 10 and 10 record 159 strikeouts 34 walks 16 home runs strikeout rate of 21.8 walk rate of 4.7 so very good uh 184 hits allowed WHIP of 1.26 yeah 1.26 NPB career 2.92 ERA 65 and 61 record so he's also a very very solid pitcher with a lot of experience someone who can be very good against his 2025 line his ERA 3.18 and then 2022 or 2025 was 2.52 so a little bit of a difference but not a crazy amount right uh strikeouts per walk 4.68 6.72 hits per nine 9.6 2025 8.2 28 and 13 and 2024 and 2025 so yes he's getting a little bit worse but obviously he's getting a little bit older but this is still good i wouldn't say he's as good as Kono Takahashi but because he looks like he's trending upwards Ito looks like he's slowly trending downwards but again he shouldn't cost too much uh and a good way to look at it uh Castillo named Sonny Gray, Sonny Gray as a comparison for Ito and Sonny Gray is old and pitches really well so take with that as you will now another pitcher that i've actually talked about before and i totally forgot i talked about before but uh Kaima Tida reportedly draws 15 teams so this is the guy who's making the most noise right now uh who is Kaima Tida he's a Saitama Seibu Lion age 26 years old so younger uh you i was gonna say he's older than me no i'm older than him so five foot eight 209 pounds bats left throws right closer in 2025 back the rotation in 2026 so he's been a reliever he's been a closer he's been a starter fastball tops at 100 miles per hour that's from just baseball so he's like i said he's been a starter he's been a reliever he's been a closer like he has been very very good with a posting expected this winter his success in both roles makes him an intriguing arm to watch as a starter last year a 1.36 ERA as a reliever in 2025 a 1.71 ERA so anywhere you put him he does really good right very very good so last year as a starter 1.36 ERA 141 strikeouts 45 walks for home runs 24.8 we'll say 25 strikeout rate 7.9 walk rate with a WHIP of below one and 95 hits allowed so a very very very very good pitcher literally anywhere right his track record speaks for himself 2025 as a closer 31 saves 1.71 ERA and NPB career 1.78 ERA over, we'll say, 600 innings pitched uh his field independent pitching is 2.28 and a 20 and a 2026 ERA plus of 245, 100 being average, so 145 points above average as of September 20th from just baseball, the problem with this is that there's 15 major league teams showing interest in Taito which means he's going to be one of those pitchers like Yamamoto who is going to be a part of a bidding war uh and can we afford him? yes, should we overpay for him I don't know so how about Shugo Maki could be posted for MLB teams another guy this guy's not a pitcher, this guy's a hitter uh I don't know why we have this player uh it auto added this image that's not him uh but who is Shugo Maki? he is a second baseman, first baseman for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, 28 years old it's not super young, not super old, 5'10" 205, bats and throws right, BayStars captain and a Climax Series MVP with four playoff home runs, World Baseball Network, so how did he do last year right so he had a .283 average, .363 uh on base, .564 uh OPS no, .927 OPS wait what .283, .363, .564, .927 OPS I forgot how to read the slash line I guess uh 30 home runs, 75 RBIs and 108 games, 85 strikeouts, 41 walks and 474 plate appearances missed about eight weeks with a hamstring but still 30 home runs, 75 RBIs, 108 games that's pretty good that's pretty pretty good in his career NPB career 293 374 uh 5 8 347 518 what is happening to me today 144 home runs 459 rbis and 749 games career 153 weighted runs created plus 100 being average 2026 weighted runs created plus 181 as of september 27 september 20th so basically everyone here on this list can be really good some way more expensive some not as expensive but all of these players would be very nice on this team uh if we want offense obviously like i showed you guys we have um oops maki i pressed the wrong button uh shugo maki would be a cool hitter i think kona takahashi would be a cool uh pitcher but he can play second play second base he can play first base and then takahashi can you know be experienced he can't he kind of gives me yu darvish vibes i don't know about the amps or uh apt there's a word apt description uh but i think anyone on this list could help us maybe we could get multiple of them i don't know why we would but we could but i guess i just want to know who do you guys want from this list any of them none of them some of them you let me know how you feel and as always please subscribe thank you for watching get us to 6 000 subs that'd be great thank you to our channel members don't remember it's just for awesome bonus features uh and did i say follow us on X Instagram Facebook Project Digest i don't know what happened to my brain today but one day i will learn how to be intelligent thank you for watching goodbye