Kaima Taira, SP/RP
Position: SP/RP B/T: L/R
Age: 26 (11/15/1999)
2026 Traditional Stats (NPB): 12-5, 1.36 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 146.0 IP, 141 SO, 45 BB, 23 GS
2026 Advanced Stats (NPB): 24.8% K%, 7.9% BB%, 2.28 FIP, 2.83 xFIP
Rundown
Kaima Taira stands at 5-foot-8, which puts him just one inch taller than former Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman. Despite his height, he is able to generate significantly-higher-than-average extension at 6.8 feet. To put this into perspective, per Lance Brozdowski, this extension in relation to height would be among the best in baseball, even better than Jacob Misiorowski.
Injuries have forced Taira to shuffle between the bullpen and rotation over the years, and it is unclear what role he will have in the majors, but he has the pitch mix and stuff to be a major league starter. Per FanGraphs, his velocity improved across the 2026 season from 96 miles per hour up to sitting 99 miles per hour by the end of the season. Their report mentioned concerns over his control limiting him to the bullpen.
In his Substack, Brozdowski also described his lower arm angle and release traits as being similar to Logan Webb and Didier Fuentes. With his velocity, he should have a plus fastball in the majors. Brozdowski disagrees with FanGraphs’ control concerns, writing, “he has just enough breaking ball feel that I have confidence this will be a MLB starter’s mix”.
Something very encouraging about Brozdowski’s breakdown is that he states that Taira’s pitch mix resembles that of Yoshinobu Yamamoto far closer than Roki Sasaki. Geoff Pontes of Baseball America shared a similar belief that Taira has improved his control enough that he can be a mid-rotation starter in the majors.
Per Baseball America, he throws a four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter, slider, curveball, changeup and splitter. Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, he also throws a two-seam fastball, though Baseball America could be combing that with the sinker. Brozdowski’s Substack breaks his slider into a separate slider and sweeper. All in all, he throws somewhere between seven and nine pitches, giving him a deep pitch mix to get hitters from both sides out.
Per Yakyu Cosmopolitan, in 2026, Taira was above-average in many metrics, including K%, chase rate, swinging strike rate, group ball rate, and called strike rate. While his BB% was below average, it has improved year over year.
Yakyu Cosmopolitan
Contract
MLB Trade Rumors projects Kaima Taira deal to come in at four years and $72 million (with at least one opt-out). This is similar to the contract Kodai Senga signed, but across four years instead of five years. It would also be in line with the AAV Tatsuya Imai signed for before the 2026 season.
Recommendation: Try to Sign
The Mets have experience in bringing over a Japanese starting pitcher in Senga and have plenty of experience working with starters who spent much of their career as relievers, including Clay Holmes, Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Brandon Sproat. Taira has some of the best upside of any starter on the market, would not cost the penalties of a qualifying offer, and should not require significant term or dollars.
Taira is still young, and if he needs to be moved to the bullpen, he has ample experience and should cost the salary of a backend reliever. He would be a perfect arm to pair with Tarik Skubal and would add much-needed velocity to a Mets pitching staff that has lacked it in recent years.
