The Phillies’ offseason watch list already has a fresh name on it.
Philadelphia is expected to have some moving parts in its lineup this winter, with Alec Bohm and Luis Arraez both set to reach free agency. That alone puts the spotlight on the infield, and third base could become a real opening if Bohm is gone.
That possibility feels very much on the table. Bohm has struggled badly in 2026, and the Phillies have already been close to moving on from him before.
When the club thought Bo Bichette was signing this past winter, Bohm would have been the player headed out. He also came up in trade discussions ahead of this year’s deadline.
If that door opens, Philadelphia may already have a target in mind. According to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, with H/T Max Ralph of MLB.com, the Phillies are among the teams showing early interest in Teruaki Sato of the Hanshin Tigers.
Sato could reach MLB through the posting system used by Nippon Professional Baseball, and the list of teams tied to him so far includes the Mets, Yankees and Dodgers as well.
It’s not exactly shocking to see that kind of group circling. Sato is 27 and has been mashing in Japan, giving any interested club a chance to add youth and power. He doesn’t solve Philadelphia’s need for a right-handed bat, but he would bring pop.
The numbers this season are loud: 27 home runs in 103 games and a 1.026 OPS. That follows a huge 2025, when he hit 40 homers, drove in 102 runs and won Central League MVP.
There are always questions when a power hitter makes the jump from NPB to MLB, but recent success from Kazuma Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami should help calm some of that noise. Sato’s track record also suggests the power is real, since he has topped 20 home runs in five of his six NPB seasons.
He also gave a glimpse of that bat on a bigger stage during the 2026 World Baseball Classic, when he went 3-for-10 with a double and three walks for Samurai Japan. Several of those balls came off his bat at more than 100 mph.
Defensively, he offers some flexibility too. Most of his work has come at third base, where he has played 528 games, but he has also logged 262 games in the outfield and even one at second base.
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