There’s a new top pitcher that MLB teams will pursue this offseason.
Roki Sasaki, a 23-year-old flame-throwing right-handed pitcher from Japan, will be posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines. He will now be available to all 30 teams.
Coming soon to MLB: Rōki Sasaki 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/nWEfIQmMNl
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 9, 2024
Since Sasaki isn’t 25 and hasn’t played six seasons in a foreign league, he will be an international amateur free agent in January. Because of that, he most likely won’t be able to sign a contract worth more than $10 million. Had he waited, like current Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Sasaki could have earned hundreds of millions of dollars.
Last offseason, the Dodgers gave Yamamoto a 12-year, $325 million deal.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Sasaki is taking a similar path as Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Los Angeles Angels for $2.3 million when he was 23.
“I am very grateful to the team for officially allowing me to post,” Sasaki said in a statement posted by the Marines on X, via ESPN. “There were many things that did not go well during my five years with the Marines, but I was able to get to this point by concentrating only on baseball, with the support of my teammates, staff, front office, and fans. I will do my best to work my way up from my minor contract to become the best player in the world, so that I will have no regrets in my one and only baseball career and live up to the expectations of everyone who has supported me.”
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What teams are favorites to land Roki Sasaki?
The Dodgers are early favorites to land Sasaki, but ESPN’s Passan notes that other teams will be in the mix.
“Throughout the 2024 season, MLB presidents of baseball operations and general managers were fixtures at Sasaki’s starts. Sasaki is close with right-hander Yu Darvish, whose team, the San Diego Padres, figures to be a potential landing spot. Both New York teams have extreme interest in Sasaki, though he could also opt for an organization with pedigree and experience (the Chicago Cubs), a team in an international city (the Toronto Blue Jays), one whose past success with Japanese players still resonates (Darvish started his career with the Texas Rangers) or those whose reputation for bringing the best out in players might appeal (the Tampa Bay Rays). Plenty of other franchises can — and will — make strong appeals to Sasaki once he is posted,” Passan reports.
Sasaki, who has been nicknamed “The Monster of the Reiwa Era,” is a very special talent who consistently throws in the triple digits. Over four seasons with the Marines in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, Sasaki posted a 29-15 record in 64 starts across 394⅔ innings, with a 2.10 ERA, 510 strikeouts, and just 88 walks.
He was also part of Japan’s World Baseball Classic championship team in 2023 with Ohtani and Yamamoto.
Despite Sasaki’s immense gifts, there is concern about his durability. His career high in innings is just 129⅓, and a torn oblique and right arm soreness limited him to 18 starts in 2024.
Related: MLB executive suggests Japanese star Roki Sasaki might sign with surprise team this winter