Braves land Japanese ace Kawakami

The Braves finally found a free-agent pitcher who’d take their money — on the other side of the world.

Kenshin Kawakami, 33, a right-hander, has reached an agreement with the Braves and will fly to Atlanta for a physical Monday, two people familiar with the situation confirmed. It’s believed to be a three-year deal, with an announcement expected Monday or Tuesday.

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Kenshin Kawakami has spent the past 11 seasons as one of the top pitchers in Japan’s Central League.

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• Video: Watch Kawakami pitch

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He’s one of the two most high-profile free agents in Japan, where the 2004 Central League MVP compiled a 112-72 record and 3.22 earned run average with 1,328 strikeouts in 11 seasons for the Chunichi Dragons.

Numerous major league teams pursued Kawakami, who chose the Braves over finalists that included the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles.

Kawakami went 9-5 with a 2.30 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 117-1/3 innings in 2008, when he pitched most of the season in a six-man rotation and missed several weeks with a back strain.

From 2004-06, he posted a 45-22 record while averaging 197 innings. He was 17-7 with a 3.32 ERA in 2004, and in ‘06 he went 17-7 with a 2.51 ERA and career-highs of 194 strikeouts and 215 innings.

The two-time Olympian and three-time Gold Glove recipient won the Sawamura Award as Japan’s top pitcher in 2004. He was also the Central League’s rookie of the year in 1998.

Kawakami and agent Dan Evans were impressed by general manager Fran Wren’s presentation at the December winter meetings, where he provided a detailed look at the Braves, their history, and Atlanta with its significant Japanese population, of which the pitcher wasn’t previously aware.

Wren named four or five major Japanese corporations with North American offices in the Atlanta area.

Wren and Braves president John Schuerholz began more than a year ago to step up their preparations for the pursuit of Japanese players, meeting with Atlanta’s Japanese consulate to find out all they could about the Japanese presence in Georgia.

In recent years, the Braves also beefed up their scouting presence in Asian countries.

Signing Kawakami might also help the Braves in their ongoing pursuit of top free-agent pitcher Derek Lowe, whose agent said Friday that it was important to Lowe to go to a team that could contend for the expected four-year length of the contract he will sign.

Lowe, 35, has averaged 15 wins and 208 innings for seven seasons for the Los Angles Dodgers and Boston since moving from the Red Sox bullpen to the starting rotation. The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets are also pursuing him, and other teams have expressed interest.