Ryota Igarashi

Igarashi struggled in his first season in American baseball after spending 11 seasons with the Yakult Swallows. Igarashi was being counted upon to emerge as a reliable eighth-inning arm, but his lack of a consistent second pitch and command resulted in him spending much of the year on the Buffalo-New York shuttle. Igarashi has one more year left on the deal he signed with the Mets and should get a chance to fill a middle-to-late relief role with the team.

Long known as one of Japan's top power pitchers, Igarashi tied the record of fastest NPB pitch recorded by a Japanese pitcher at 158 km/h (98.75 mph). Igarashi has managed to retain his velocity after missing all of 2007 and the first half of 2008 with arm problems that led to Tommy John surgery. He's been a strikeout pitcher in Japan with 630 K's in over 570 career innings. Last season, however, was his first healthy season where he failed to strikeout at least a batter an inning, punching out 44 in 53.2 innings pitched. The main knock on Igarashi has always been his control, as he also has career 241 walks to his name. His command has improved in recent seasons, walking just six in 43.2 innings in 2008, and 20 in 53.2 innings in 2009. He became a free agent after last season and elected to move to MLB, signing with the Mets where he could become the top set-up man to closer Francisco Rodriguez.