The Yakult Swallows are likely to allow left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii to play in the major leagues next season, one year before he becomes a free agent, club president Yoshikazu Tagiku said Monday.
Tagiku said Yakult is leaning toward making 29-year-old Ishii realize his hopes to move to the majors by using the so-called posting system, in which major league teams submit bids for the right to negotiate with a Japanese player. "Ishii reconfirmed his wish to play in the major leagues when we met in June. Considering his age, I think he's now at the peak of his career and exchanging players with the majors is good for Japanese baseball," Tagiku said.
Ishii, who led the Central League in strikeouts in 1998 and 2000 as well as having a 2.61 earned run average in 2000, has drawn interest from such clubs as the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks.