No Japanese pro team scouted Teruaki Sato out of high school.
Now, he's Japan's Triple Crown winner and he has three weeks to land an MLB contract.
Sato, 27, won the Central League Triple Crown for the Hanshin Tigers this season, hitting .306 with 39 homers and 106 RBIs, a year after he was named league MVP. No Japanese-born Tiger had ever done it. Hanshin posted him for MLB teams Nov. 1, and USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale said Sato might be the top position player in a weak free agent class. The New York Yankees, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers have all been lined to him.
The catch is the calendar.
MLB's collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 and a lockout
is expected.
Front offices are in Las Vegas this week for the general manager meetings, the first big stop of the offseason.
Here's who Sato is, how good he is and which teams are really interested in him.
Who is Teruaki Sato?
Sato grew up in Nishinomiya, the city that's home to Koshien Stadium, rooting for the Tigers. He hit 15 homers as a senior at Nigawa High School, and the pros still passed on him. Kindai University did not. He moved from left field to third base in college and set the Kansai Big Six league record with 14 homers as a senior and won two league MVP awards.
Japan's draft doesn't work like MLB. In the first round, teams don't pick in order. Every team names the player it wants at the same time, and when more than one names the same player, they draw lots for him.
In 2020, four teams named Sato. He went to his hometown Hanshin Tigers.
As a rookie in 2021, he hit 24 homers and struck out 38% of the time. He became the first left-handed hitter in Japanese pro history to open a career with three straight 20-homer seasons. Then he slumped badly enough in 2024 to get sent down for 17 games.
Sato grew into the game. In 2025 he hit 40 homers with 102 RBI, and the home run and RBI titles, the MVP award and a Golden Glove at third base.
This year, he added the batting title. He hit .306/.383/.609 in 143 games, led the league with 165 hits and finished four homers ahead of teammate Shota Morishita. He's the ninth player in Japanese pro history to win a Triple Crown and the first since Munetaka Murakami in 2022. The only other Tiger to do it is Randy Bass (1985 and 1986).
Sato is the first reigning MVP position player to join MLB since Hideki Matsui in 2003.
Sato bats left, he throws right and is listed at 6-1, 207 pounds. He turns 28 in March.
How good is Teruaki Sato?
His raw numbers undersell him. Central League hitters batted .236/.301/.350 this season, and teams averaged 3.40 runs a game. Sato hit .306/.383/.609 in 143 games. Sato also plays his home game at Koshien, one of Japan's best parks for pitchers.
According to MLB.com, Sato's swing averages close to 75 miles per hour, which would rank him among MLB's top 50 hitters. His exit velocity matched Shohei Ohtani's mark in 2026.
"When he hits them, he hits them really hard," said an MLB scout who has evaluated Sato and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to discuss players publicly.
The scout called Sato's raw power "definitely above average," though not Murakami's.
The concern is that he misses a lot.
Japanese baseball analyst Yuri Karasawa found that Sato swings more than nearly any notable hitter in Japan over the past five years. He made contact on 66% of his swings this season. The MLB average is 77%.
"In-zone fastball misses are an issue," the scout said.
His glove is the other question. He won a Golden Glove at third base in 2025, but some have speculated that Sato will have to move to a corner outfield or first base in the future. The scout who spoke to USA TODAY Sports thinks Sato can stay at third with work, and noted that he has played corner outfield before and runs well enough to handle it.
"I do like Sato," the scout said, "but he comes with the Murakami risk."
The Chicago White Sox took that risk last winter with Murakami and gave him a two-year, $34 million deal. Then he went out and hit 35 homers as a rookie while batting .207 and striking out 35.4% of the time. Kazuma Okamoto signed for four years and $60 million with the Toronto Blue Jays and hit 33 homers with 92 RBI.
There are plenty of teams that were kicking themselves this season for passing on Murakami.
Which MLB teams want Teruaki Sato?
The Yankees have the clearest need. Ryan McMahon hit .213 with 11 homers and a .635 OPS at third base this season. They have expressed concern about whether Sato can remain at third base internally.
The Mets looked like the favorite for months. President of baseball operations David Stearns flew to Japan to scout Sato in person after the Mets' season ended. Then Bo Bichette opted into his $42 million salary for 2027.
The Phillies need a third baseman with Alec Bohm a free agent. The Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported that the Tigers have scouted Sato. The Dodgers, Red Sox and Padres have been linked to him, too.
Will Teruaki Sato sign before the MLB lockout?
Players posted from Japan normally get 45 days to sign. Sato's window opened Nov. 2 and would run through Dec. 16.
It won't get that far. The collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 ET on Dec. 1, and a lockout freezes every signing. The league has said it will not pause the posting window this time.
The last lockout went the other way. In 2021-22, MLB froze Seiya Suzuki's window for all 99 days of the lockout and he signed for five years and $85 million with the Cubs once it ended
Sato has three weeks.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How good is Teruaki Sato? MLB has three weeks to find out
