The Nippon Ham Fighters will have their captain, center fielder and leadoff hitter Haruki Nishikawa, back for the 2021 season in Japan’s Pacific League after his posting deadline expired without a contract on Saturday afternoon.

The 28-year-old slap-hitting on-base machine, who was unlikely to match the $1.9 million he’d received the past two years in Japan, had stated his desire to go as a pursuit of learning things he couldn’t in Japan. One has to love that, but without power and with another slow winter free-agent market, it was going to be a tough slog for a guy on a 30-day deadline.