Roki Sasaki is the talent that has garnered attention for years since he began competing professionally. The Dodgers scouted him. The Yankees had been scouting him. In a surprise move by the Chiba Lotte Marines, they will allow him to be posted to play in MLB, a move that some predicted and many did not believe would be possible even this offseason, considering how much more money the Chiba Lotte Marines were bound to make if they just held onto him for two more years. But, according to the Marines, it was about honoring his request to play in the MLB.
The young right-handed flame thrower recently just turned 23 on November 3rd. With just 3 NPB seasons under his belt, having turned pro in 2021, he has already pitched a perfect game, has been an all-star twice, and has been awarded the Chiba City "New Era Hometown Award." He holds a world record of thirteen strikeouts in a row and holds the NPB all-time strikeouts in a single game. He did this quickly, which beckons the question of what else he can do. Will he win the Cy Young in his first year? Will he strike out 27 hitters in a row? It's intriguing indeed.
Roki Sasaki boasts a 100-mph fastball that uniquely moves horizontally and vertically inward to a right-handed hitter. Though his velocity has dipped a little since his 2022 perfect game season, it will still be considered a top 10 best fastball in the MLB. On that note, if he ups his velocity two more miles an hour, it will be the best in all of baseball. He is a once-in-a-generation pitching prospect. In his dominant year, he mixed splitters and fastballs about 90% of the time. Recently, he added a splitter, which he threw about 25% of the time in 2024. He throws his splitter about 28% of the time while throwing his fastball just under half of the time. This is a headache for hitters because they all seemingly look like fastballs that are difficult to deviate from one another until it is too late. His sliders and splitters are just as fast as many MLB pitchers today. He used to throw a curveball more often, which he had recently abandoned. That was good too, which he used to throw hitters off-balance and sneak into the strike zone for an uncomfortable strike.
Now, because he wants to pitch in MLB before the age of 25, he is only eligible to earn a contract at a minor-league level that is subject to an amateur prospect agreement. Depending on how much pool money an organization has left, that would be the available cash to pay him. If his current team, the Marines, waits until December 1st, it changes the landscape on which the team has a chance to land him drastically. It will no longer just be the Dodgers; it becomes a chance for all.
Which teams have the most chance of landing Roki?
There has been speculation that the Dodgers are the clear favorite, considering they have just won the World Series and they have Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamato on the team. It would be an interesting prospect for any young pitcher transitioning to a different country. Why wouldn't he? Any young man would like to play for a team he would feel right at home on. He would have two teammates that speak his language.
The second team that I believe has the most chance of signing him is the San Diego Padres. Yu Darvish is someone he greatly respects as his mentor and the one who taught him to throw a devastating slider. This could persuade him to go to the Padres for the very reason Yu Darvish plays for the Padres. The downside is that the San Diego Padres is a smaller market. If the goal is to supplement his income in endorsements, he would be at a disadvantage compared to how much more he would make with the Dodgers.
And, third, are the New York Yankees. Other than the Dodgers, no other team has vested more interest in Sasaki than the Yankees. They too, like the Dodgers, have scouted him for years. Perhaps indeed there is a slim chance Roki Sasaki would want to play for them.
The world just awaits his decision on what team he's going to be playing for in 2025.
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