Seibu Lions ace Hideaki Wakui filed for salary arbitration on Wednesday after his request for a pay raise was repeatedly turned down by the club this offseason.
The Seibu front office has stood firm with an offer of ¥200 million plus performance incentives for the 24-year-old right-hander, who led the team with 14 wins in 2010, the fifth consecutive season that he has posted double-digit wins.
Japanese baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato will decide whether to take the case to arbitrators.
"The club's evaluation on his 2010 performance is not appropriate. We have to say the evaluation is even worse if you look at the number of years that he's done well in," said Wakui's lawyer Yoshihiro Otomo.