Nov 20 (Reuters) - Yoshinobu Yamamoto is poised to become Major League Baseball's next big Japanese star after the 25-year-old pitching sensation posted as a free agent on Monday. Yamamoto was posted on Monday by the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) where he is a three-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award, which is equivalent to MLB's Cy Young Award. He won a gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and helped Japan to victory at the World Baseball Classic earlier this year. Per MLB rules, the window for teams to bid on Yamamoto opens on Tuesday and closes on Jan. 4. Reporting by Rory Carroll in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Yamamoto, Eiji Sawamura, MLB's Cy Young, Rory Carroll, Chizu Organizations: Major League Baseball's, Orix Buffaloes, Nippon Professional Baseball, Triple Crown, NPB's Pacific League, Tokyo Games, MLB, Thomson Locations: Japan, San Francisco