On his first morning in a major-league clubhouse, on his first trip ever to the United States, Koyo Aoyagi held his phone aloft and snapped a picture of the nameplate above his locker. The novelty was undeniable.

Koyo Aoyagi has been a side-armed right-hander for as long as he can remember. He needed to be, he said. “I couldn’t throw overhand,” Aoyagi joked through his interpreter on Friday afternoon at BayCare Ballpark.