Golden Eagles pitcher Hishahi Iwakuma of the Japan League would like to come over to the major leagues next season via the posting system. Iwakuma, 28, is one of the top pitchers in the Japan League posting a 44-18 record over the past three seasons with a 2.62 ERA. Over that time he averaged 186 innings per season, crossing the 200 inning threshold once.
Iwakuma is a right-handed pitcher with five plus pitches. He has a fastball that sits around 89-91, a sinker with horizontal movement also in that range, a splitter which is arguably his most dangerous pitch, a slider with plus movement, and a loopy curveball which may or may not be effective in the major leagues. Iwakuma has a high baseball IQ, playing to his strengths on the mound and mixing up his pitches well. However, Iwakuma only throws his fastball about a third of the time, which is fairly uncommon in the major leagues. His slider and splitter are used a lot, so if his command is off he could be hit hard.
Iwakuma is a unique pitcher. He keeps the ball low in the zone and will burn you with a 90 mph fastball after throwing a slider or splitter with a 10 mph differential. I bet there will be a handful of interest in this pitcher, mainly from teams who may not be able to afford a big name pitcher like Cliff Lee. His posting won't range beyond 10 million dollars, and he could probably sign a deal comparable to what Dodgers pitcher Hirorki Kuroda signed, a three year deal in the 5-10 million dollar range per year.
Look for teams like the Mariners, Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, and Red Sox, among others.