TOKYO (AP) — Japanese shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka is free to move to Major League Baseball via the posting system, his team announced Wednesday.

MLB teams will have four business days to bid for the negotiating rights to the 26-year-old Nishioka, who helped the Lotte Marines win the 2010 Japan Series.

The posting system allows major league teams to bid for the negotiating rights to Japanese players who have yet to become free agents.

Nishioka led the Pacific League with a .346 batting average this season and had 206 hits, becoming the first player in the Pacific League to record 200 hits since Ichiro Suzuki in 1994.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

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