Multiple U.S. media outlets reported on the 25th (26th Japan time) that pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (33, free agent from the Astros) has agreed to a three-year contract with the Angels worth a total of $63 million (approximately 9.7 billion yen). Kikuchi’s average annual salary of $21 million (approximately 3.23 billion yen) is the same as the salary of Padres pitcher Yu Darvish (38) next season, and is currently tied for 17th among major league pitchers. This amount once again made us realize the widening gap in annual salaries between Japanese professional baseball and Major League Baseball. Looking only at next season’s annual salary (in the case of multi-year contracts, the signing bonus is added to the average annual salary), the top 10 Japanese players in the majors are Shohei Ohtani at $70 million (approximately 10.78 billion yen), Yoshinobu Yamamoto at $39 million (approximately 6.01 billion yen), Kikuchi at $21 million, Darvish and Yoshida Masanao at $18 million (approximately 2.77 billion yen), Seiya Suzuki at $17 million (approximately 2.62 billion yen), Kodai Senga at $15 million (approximately 2.31 billion yen), Shota Imanaga at $13.25 million (approximately 2.04 billion yen), Kenta Maeda at $12 million (approximately 1.85 billion yen), and Yuki Matsui at $5.6 million (approximately 860 million yen). The average is 22,885,000 dollars (approximately 3.52 billion yen). Even if we exclude Ohtani, who alone has seen a significant increase in his salary, the average for the nine players is $17.65 million (approximately 2.72 billion yen). Looking at Major League Baseball as a whole, the average annual salary in the majors this season is $4.98 million (approximately 770 million yen), according to a survey by Statista in the United States. Meanwhile, according to the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Players Association, the average annual salary of NPB contracted players this season is 47.13 million yen, which is about one-sixteenth of that in the majors. Also, while Ohtani’s $70 million annual salary is the highest in the major leagues this season, the average annual salary of the top 10 players is $41.79 million (approximately 6.34 billion yen). Meanwhile, the highest annual salary (estimated) in the NPB this season, excluding foreign players, is 600 million yen for Sakamoto Hayato and Murakami Munetaka, about 1/18 of Ohtani’s. The average annual salary of the top 10 players is 494 million yen, which is about one-thirteenth of that in the majors.
>>1 >Yamamoto Yoshinobu’s $39 million (approximately 6.01 billion yen) Is he going to earn in one year the total amount of Sakamoto Hayato’s annual salary so far? That’s amazing.
>>9 He doesn’t make that much. At most 1 billion from sponsorship contracts. The club pays about 60% of that. So 600 million is effectively the highest annual salary for a Japanese soccer player.
The majors are an industry where only the best can make money. If you’re just making the bench in the majors, you’re not that different from the NPB’s first team. If you’re in 3A, you could end up earning less than the salary of an average office worker.
The three-year contract is worth a total of $63 million (approximately 9.7 billion yen). In Japan, that would be the largest amount ever earned. Is there anyone in Japanese baseball who has earned more than that?
>>30 Right. But if you’re going to say that, you’re talking about pitchers. The NPB baseball agreement is nothing more than a slave contract for pitchers, whose shoulders and elbows are expendable. I hope that the Sasaki Roki incident will lead to a path to shortening the time it takes to obtain FA rights to as short as six years, just like in the MLB.
Yamamoto was probably paid around 650 million, and then he spent 12 years with the Dodgers for 46 billion lol, and Orix paid him 7 billion in transfer fees, so that was a bit of a bubble.
I’ve already earned enough money to have fun for the rest of my life, so I’m retiring even though I’m in my 20s. Why aren’t there any professional athletes who say this? 300 million would be enough to do anything.
That’s right, in the minor leagues, it’s hard to make a decent living with the bus rides and the 5 million yen annual salary lol, it’s a world you never want to return to lol.
Not just in baseball, but in the pay of actors in TV dramas and movies, the difference between Japan and America is about 10 times. It’s been like this for a long time.
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