By Carter Cromwell

 January 3, 2024

Year Three was a year of progress for the Japan Winter League.

More players from more countries, more games, more instruction.  All of which resulted in a higher level of play and greater interest going forward.

Launched in 2022, the JWL takes place in the relatively mild climate of Okinawa from late November to late December.  It is organized into two groups – an “advanced” league for pros and players in independent or industrial leagues and a “tryout” league for amateur players.

Players pay the cost of getting to Okinawa, as well as the registration fee. In return, they get hotel accommodations, transportation between games and from airport to hotel, and three meals per day.  This year, all activities were held at Koza Shinkin Stadium, the spring training home of Nippon Professional Baseball’s (NPB) Hiroshima Carp, which also has an adjacent indoor training facility. There are also plenty of opportunities for instruction from staff members.

Photo: Player orientation meeting for the 2024 Japan Winter League 

There were six teams, and each was scheduled for 20 games in 26 days.  The games were live-streamed in Japan, and all the games were posted on YouTube, which is a great benefit for overseas clubs or Japanese teams operating on smaller budgets. In addition, analytical programs tracked every at-bat and pitch, as well as bullpen sessions, to give players, managers, and scouts much worthwhile data to aid in player development.  

Players are looking for instruction and to get visibility with scouts, who represent not only  Japanese independent league and industrial league teams but also NPB clubs and MLB teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, and New York Mets.  Approximately 70 players participated in the first season, and the total increased to 96 in 2023.  That was below the goal of 120, but the league blew past that in 2024 with more than 140 players.  In addition, nearly 50 overseas players, representing 14 countries, participated this year, as opposed to 30 the year before.  

 

Photo: Baseball Jobs Overseas members Ben Meyer and Phil Whelan returned to the Japan Winter League for the second straight year. Both players signed contracts in Japan out of the 2023 JWL.

Three NPB clubs – the Seibu Lions, Rakuten Golden Eagles, and Yokohama DeNA BayStars – sent players from their development teams, while the Doosan Bears of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) sent a pitcher, and two clubs from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan had seven players participate. In addition, mainland China sent a group of its young prospects, including several who had played in the U23 World Cup earlier in 2024. There were even a couple of Americans who had been drafted by MLB teams and had played in the U.S. minor leagues – Jalen GreerRobbie Tenerowicz and Kevin Watson.  

“We had guys from the U.S., Canada, Austria, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, Venezuela, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, and Honduras,” said Hiroyuki Sakanashi, who served as overall head coordinator of the league and coordinator for the tryout league. “The Baseball Jobs Overseas (BBJO) people made a lot of contacts, which really helped, but there was also a lot more social media content to grow awareness, and players who had been here before talked it up with people they knew.”  Sakanashi expects an eventual total of 25-30 players to receive contract offers.  

Photo: Prospects from the NPB, CPBL, and KBO attended the 2024 Japan Winter League.

Daniel Catalan, a BBJO member, helped instruct in the JWL in 2023 and is now a coach with the CPBL’s CTBC Brothers club.  He returned to the JWL this year as a hitting coordinator and added, “The Brothers sent five players, and the Lions sent two, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they send more next year.  The league ran more smoothly this year, and I think it will continue to do so.”

The consensus was that the overall competitive level jumped.  An issue a year ago was the lack of enough pitchers, particularly in the advanced league. 

“We were somewhat improved on the pitching side this time,” Sakanashi said. “We were able to get all the scheduled games in, and we didn’t have to borrow players from other teams nearly as much as last year.   

“The overall level was definitely improved,” he continued. “The guys in the tryout league, in particular, were a lot better.  Last year, I felt like the players were more unique in that one might have had a good arm, another good speed, and so forth.  This year, the ‘baseball level’ got better.

“Scouts told us that the level of play improved and that the operation itself was a lot more professional.”

 

Photo: Former BBJO member and long-term overseas player and coach, Daniel Catalan, signed a contract as a hitting coach with the CTBC Brothers of the Chinese Professional Baseball League out of the 2023 JWL. 

As mentioned, the players do more than just play games. The indoor facility next door provides all manner of opportunities for training, practice, and instruction.

Sakanashi noted that there were eight game coordinators, several skill coordinators, and three performance coordinators, who were “kind of like trainers but who specifically worked with body mechanics – like if the spine was tight, they would work to make it more flexible.”  Colby Morris, who reached the AAA level in the U.S. minor leagues, came on as the pitching coordinator, and Masahiro Sakumoto, who pitched in the NPB over 11 seasons, was an instructor. 

“There was more help this year than last year, which was good,” Catalan said. “The [batting] cages were open all day, so people were hitting before and after games. There were good resources there and a lot of different perspectives.

“It was very different from the typical Asian setup – people were working hard, but it wasn’t a strict military style,” according to Catalan.  “People were there to get better, but the vibe was pretty chill.  It was more like a summer-ball vibe, but with a bunch of resources.”

Ben Meyer is an American starting pitcher with experience in the U.S. independent leagues and the Netherlands first division who parlayed his appearance in the 2023 JWL into a contract with Ishikari Red Phoenix of Japan’s independent Hokkaido Frontier League.  He came back for more in 2024 and came away with a deal with the Yamanashi Firewinds that will make him the first foreign player in the independent BC League.

Photo: In his second JWL in 2024, Ben Meyer levelled up in Japan by signing with the Yamanashi Firewinds of the BC League, one of Japan’s top two independent professional baseball leagues. 

Meyer, a BBJO member who has some Japanese heritage and is committed to learning the language, said he signed up for this year’s JWL “pretty early with the goal to either sign with a team beforehand and come here for some needed reps or wait to sign a contract.  The coaching here is good; it was better organized; and the competitive level was definitely up.  

“The hitting got a lot better – there were a lot more mature hitters this time –  and the pitching was a little better,” Meyer added.  “There certainly was more pitching depth.  We had nine pitchers on our team this year, while we had maybe five a year ago when a guy would either have to pitch a complete game or a coach might have had to finish a game.  It felt more like a showcase in 2023, but they learned a lot.  There was more staff, and they kept standings and even had an all-star game.”

Scott Bellina, another American pitcher who has experience playing in Australia and last season pitched for Mainz in the top German league, was at the JWL for the first time.

Bellina had played at the junior-college level in Florida and then attended the University of Hawaii – Manoa.  He trained at Driveline during his senior year in 2019 and gained enough velocity to attract some interest from MLB scouts.  But the Covid-19 pandemic caused cancellation of the 2020 U.S. minor league season, and MLB shortened its draft that year from 40 rounds to five, so many players who previously may have been taken went undrafted.

Photo: University of Hawaii – Manoa alum, Scott Bellina, attended the JWL for the first time in 2024 and signed with the Ishikari Red Phoenix of the Hokkaido Frontier League. 

“A lot of guys in my age range thought our careers were probably done at that point,” Bellina said.

He then landed an internship with MLB’s Baltimore Orioles, spending the 2021 season working in pitching development with the Orioles’ High-Class A team in Aberdeen, Maryland.  

“It was a lot of advanced BP, not like traditional batting practice,” Bellina said, “and it helped me a lot because I played against a lot of top prospects.  That’s when I decided I wanted to keep playing.”

He first heard of the JWL through Baseball Jobs Overseas and then saw related social media postings.

“The more I looked into it, the more it seemed like an awesome opportunity,” he said.  “And it turned out that the talent level was pretty high.  There were more guys there than I had expected who were with organizations in pro leagues, like the NPB.   

“This was my first time in Japan, and all the players on our team, except for me and another guy, were Japanese, so it gave us a better feel of what it would be like to play in Japan.  I and a lot of the other guys were excited to learn from the Japanese baseball culture.  You saw how much emphasis they put on flexibility and stretching, and their work ethic is so strong.  It was really positive to be around those guys every day, be in that environment, and learn from Japanese coaches and teammates.  It was such a different experience, baseball-wise and culturally.”

Bellina eventually signed with Meyer’s team of a year ago, the Ishikari Red Phoenix of the Hokkaido Frontier League. 

Graeham Luttor grew up in Toronto, attended college at two NAIA-level schools in the U.S., and began playing overseas in 2021.  He has played and/or coached in Belgium, Austria, and New Zealand, is a player and coach for the Hungarian national team, and most recently played for Haar of the top German league in 2024.  

Photo: Graeham Luttor (far right), a Canadian first baseman who has played overseas since graduating from Midway University (NAIA) in 2021, signed a contract out of the 2024 JWL with the Betsukai Pilot Spirits, a new team in the Hokkaido Frontier League.

Primarily a first baseman, he had learned of the JWL through BBJO and also knew a couple of players who participated in 2023. He also knows Sakanashi, since they coached against each other in the Austrian league.  

“I talked with Hiro to get a better feel of what the league was like and eventually felt that it would be a good way to get reps in and to maybe get a foot in the door in Japan,” Luttor said.

And the “maybe” turned into a reality in the form of a contract offer from the Betsukai Pilot Spirits, a new team in the Hokkaido Frontier League.

“I didn’t have any expectations about the JWL beforehand – it was more just to play and have fun.  If [a signing] happened, great, but I wasn’t going to lose sleep over it.  But the quality of play [in the league] was solid, and it was apparent from the get-go that it would help me get better,” Luttor said. “I learned more about preparation and training and how different the Japanese way of pitching is. 

“So now I have a foot in the door, and I hope to work my way up.” 

Not ready to hang them up?  Seeking a new career path?

Annually our members sign over 300 contracts overseas. There are a variety of levels overseas which present opportunities for players and coaches, both aspiring and established professionals.