Orix Buffaloes ace Chihiro Kaneko indicated on Monday he will not push the Pacific League club to make him available to big league clubs through the posting system.

The 31-year-old Kaneko, who won the Sawamura Award this year as Japan’s outstanding starting pitcher, also won a Golden Glove for fielding excellence and the Best IX Award for PL pitchers. The PL leader in wins and ERA has filed for domestic free agency, and could easily have forced Orix to post him.

“I’m thinking of not using the posting system this offseason,” Kaneko said.

When asked his reasons, Kaneko said he had several, but declined to elaborate.

“It’s not like I have decided everything, so it’s difficult to answer,” he said.

After Orix was eliminated from the PL playoffs, Kaneko traveled to the United States, where he watched the World Series live and became intrigued by the thought of pitching in the major leagues. Kaneko started and won one game in Samurai Japan’s recent five-game series against a squad of major leaguers.

“Perhaps that desire to take on the challenge of playing in the majors could grow stronger than it is this year,” said Kaneko, who will not be eligible to file for free agency again until at least 2018.

“I don’t know how things will be four years from now.”

Kaneko can now negotiate a deal with any of Nippon Professional Baseball’s 12 teams. Should he leave Orix as a free agent, the Buffaloes could receive no more than 80 percent of his 2014 salary, which is reported to be ¥200 million, in compensation. In contrast, the posting of a highly regarded player can reap his Japanese club up to $20 million or roughly ¥2.36 billion.

Because of that huge difference, the Buffaloes would be hard pressed to deny a request by Kaneko to be posted to the majors.