Franmil Reyes signs multi-year deal with NPB Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
former major league player Franmil Reyes According to reports in Japan (hat tip to Yakyu Cosmopolitan), Japanese professional baseball company Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters have signed a multi-year contract. Reyes has spent the past two seasons with the Fighters on one-year contracts. The club initially offered him a multi-year contract last winter before Reyes opted for a guaranteed year, but it looks like the 30-year-old slugger will now get even more guarantees.
It’s easy to see why the Fighters would want to lock down Reyes, as he’s provided some stellar performances in his two seasons with NPB. Reyes hit .282/.347/.535 with 57 homers in 899 games with the Kitahiroshima-based club, helping the Fighters to second place in the Pacific League each of the past two seasons. The Fighters have hit 240 home runs over the past two seasons, the most of any NPB team, led by Reyes’ power bat.
That hard-hitting ability has been evident throughout most of Reyes’ six major league seasons, as he hit 108 big fly balls and a .264/.310/.464 slash line in 2,078 PA with the Padres, Defenders, Cubs and Royals from 2018-23. Unfortunately for Reyes, his production suddenly struggled in 2022, leading Cleveland to select him to Triple-A and then designate him for assignment that summer. Reyes did not recover from his stroke during subsequent spells with the Cubs, Royals and (minor league contract) Nationals, so he elected to head overseas after the 2023 season.
The move to Japan puts Reyes back on track and his multi-year commitment to the fighter can be viewed in a few different ways. It could be that MLB scouts and management aren’t convinced enough by Reyes’ NPB numbers to explore bringing him back to North America on any guaranteed deal, so he might prefer to stay with the Fighters for more guaranteed money. Or maybe Reyes is just happy with where he is and looking forward to continuing what is clearly a welcoming environment in terms of his own production and fighter team success.
