The Pittsburgh Pirates are losing a relief pitcher off of their 40-man roster.

Right hander Thomas Hatch is reportedly set to play in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan. Korean news publication IS Plus is reporting that several teams in the Korean Baseball Organization were pursuing Hatch as well, but the 29 year old ultimately opted to sign in Japan.

Hatch is reportedly signing a deal with the Nippon Ham Fighters for $1.8 million in US dollars, which is equivalent to about $266,520,600 in Japanese yen.

Hatch pitched in 12 games for the Pirates in 2023, recording a 1-1 record with a 4.03 ERA. Hatch struck out 6.4 batters per nine innings, and walked 2.8 batters per nine innings.

The native of Tulsa, Oklahoma started the season with the Toronto Blue Jays, pitching 6 games (6.1 innings) before being placed on waivers by Toronto. Pittsburgh claimed him on August 6th, and used Hatch in a variety of ways.

Hatch finished 3 games for the Pirates, and started 2 as well for the team as Pittsburgh’s starting pitching down the stretch was cobbled together by literally anyone on the roster. In total, he spent 22.1 innings on the mound for Pittsburgh this year.

In an ideal scenario, Hatch would not have been a critical part of the Pirates pitching staff in 2024, but Pittsburgh’s front office did protect Hatch from the Rule 5 draft, so maybe they did see him in their plans moving forward.

Hatch does not bring a ton of big league experience with him to Japan (69.0 total MLB innings pitched in his career), but he does have 9 years of time served on the mound, which will be valuable as he takes on a new challenge in NPB.

(Featured photo by Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports)