Where Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jung Hoo Lee and Shota Imanaga Would Rank On The BA Top 100 Prospects

Image credit: Jung Hoo Lee (Photo by Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)

Since Baseball America released its first Top 100 Prospects ranking in 1990, any player yet to surpass 50 innings pitched or 130 at-bats in MLB was eligible for inclusion on the list.

That included foreign professionals from Japan, Cuba, South Korea and other countries. While these players had reached the highest levels of baseball in their respective nations, there was no official distinction made by MLB between a teenager signing from a foreign country or an established veteran. Thus, there was no basis to exclude them from a Top 100 Prospects ranking.

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That changed in 2017, when MLB officially designated foreign professionals as a different class of player, with different signing rules, than international amateurs. Under the new system, players who were at least 25 years of age and had played at least six seasons in a foreign professional league were officially deemed foreign professionals whose signings would be exempt from international bonus pools. International amateurs, meanwhile, would remain subject to the caps.

Baseball America continued to rank foreign professionals after the change because they remained eligible to win Rookie of the Year awards. However, after careful consideration, BA decided to no longer include foreign professionals in its Top 100 Prospects beginning this year.

That said, Dodgers righthander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee and Cubs lefthander Shōta Imanaga all would have merited consideration, and likely inclusion, in the 2024 BA Top 100 Prospects had they been eligible. It’s worth noting in particular that Yamamoto and Lee, both 25, are the same age or younger as prospects who are in the Top 100, and would not be out of place on the list age-wise.

Here is how Yamamoto, Lee and Imanaga compare to the Top 100 Prospects, and where they would have ranked if eligible.

YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO

Yamamoto is the most decorated Japanese pitcher to ever come to MLB, which is saying something considering his predecessors include Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo. He won the last three Sawamura Awards, the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young Award, as well as three straight Pacific League MVP awards, something last accomplished by Ichiro Suzuki. The Dodgers signed him to a 12-year, $325 million contract, making him the highest-paid pitcher in major league history.

Yamamoto is a major league-ready, frontline starter and would be the undisputed top pitching prospect in baseball if he were eligible. He has three plus pitches with a mid-90s fastball that reaches 99 mph, a 76-78 mph curveball that freezes hitters on both sides of the plate and a diving 88-91 mph splitter that induces ground balls and empty swings. He also has an above-average slider he can shorten into a cutter and ties it all together with plus control and exceptional athleticism and durability. He has equivalent or better upside than Paul Skenes, the top-ranked pitching prospect on the BA Top 100, and considerably less risk given his polish and proven dominance in Nippon Professional Baseball, the highest level of baseball in the world outside of MLB.

The question is not whether Yamamoto would be the top pitching prospect in baseball, but the top propsect overall. Orioles shortstop Jackson Holliday and Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio similarly project to be franchise cornerstones and have more chances to make an impact as everyday position players. At the same time, Yamamoto has considerably less risk than both given his experience in NPB. Yamamoto would have a very compelling argument to be the No. 1 prospect on the BA Top 100 and would be no lower than No. 3.

JUNG HOO LEE

Lee jumped straight from high school to the Korean major leagues and broke the KBO rookie record for hits as an 18-year-old. He progressed rapidly into the country’s biggest star and won the KBO MVP Award in 2022. Overall, he hit.340/.407/.491 while winning five Gold Glove awards in seven professional seasons in Korea. The Giants signed him to a six-year, $113 million contract, the largest contract ever for an Asian-born hitter coming to MLB.

Lee is a pure lefthanded hitter with a smooth, fast swing. He has elite–strike zone discipline and consistently drives hittable pitches on a line when he gets a pitch he likes. He’s not overly physical and he’ll likely have an adjustment period against high-velocity fastballs in MLB, but his bat speed, plate discipline and sweet lefthanded swing should help him emerge as an above-average hitter in time. He is an above-average runner who is a threat on the basepaths and has the speed, athleticism and instincts to stick in center field.

Lee projects to be a leadoff or No. 2 hitter who hits for average, posts high on-base percentages and rack ups up doubles and triples into the gaps while capably playing center field. He would rank No. 35 on the BA Top 100 right behind Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser and just ahead of Twins infielder Brooks Lee and Rockies infielder Adael Amador in a run of polished, hit-first players with good on-base skills who have the ability to stay up the middle.

SHOTA IMANAGA

Imanaga was drafted in the first round out of Komazawa University in 2015 and quickly emerged as one of Japan’s preeminent lefthanded pitchers. He posted a 3.18 ERA over eight seasons in NPB, pitched a no-hitter in 2022 and led the Central League with 174 strikeouts in 2023. He raised his profile when he started and won the gold-medal game against Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in March, allowing one run in two innings and striking out Paul Goldschmidt and Cedric Mullins. The Cubs signed him to a four-year, $53 million contract that includes a pair of opt-outs and a fifth-year option that could increase the value of the deal to as much as $80 million.

Imanaga showed electric stuff in short outings during the WBC, but he’s more of a pitchability lefthander when working as a traditional starter. His fastball ranges anywhere from 86-94 mph, sitting 89-92 mph, and plays up with solid riding life that helps it generate swings and misses at the top of the strike zone. His best pitch is an above-average, 82-85 mph splitter with late cut that induces ground balls. Imanaga doesn’t spin a breaking ball particularly well and will have to improve his slider, which flashes average but too often stays on one plane, in order to fulfill his potential in MLB. He ties everything together with above-average control and a good feel for mixing his pitches and changing eye levels.

Imanaga projects to be a solid, effective No. 4 or 5 starter and is ready to step into the Cubs rotation immediately. He would slot in at No. 89 on the BA Top 100 ahead of Marlins righthander Max Meyer, who is coming off Tommy John surgery and carries significant reliever risk.