Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki is headed to the Major Leagues next season.
Sasaki, considered by consensus to be the best young pitcher in Japan, will be able to join a Major League team after being cleared to leave by the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese Professional Baseball League, the team announced.
“Since I joined [a los Marines]I have continued to hear about my future challenges in the MLB, and I am grateful to the team for allowing me to officially leave,” Sasaki said.
“A lot of things happened, but I was able to get to this point by focusing solely on baseball, with the support of my teammates, staff, management and fans, so I don’t regret anything in my baseball career.”
Sasaki, who turned 23 on November 3, made his Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) debut in 2021 and has dominated the competition for four seasons with the Marines. With a 100 mph fastball, a devastating splitter and an improving slider, Sasaki has posted a career ERA of 2.02 with 524 strikeouts and 91 walks in 414.2 innings.
You might be interested: Real Madrid thrashes Osasuna to forget about their sorrows
The right-hander pitched the 16th perfect game in NPB history against the Orix Buffaloes on April 10, 2022, while tying the NPB record with 19 strikeouts and setting a record with 13 consecutive strikeouts. He followed up with another flawless start against the Nippon Ham-Fighters, pitching eight perfect innings with 14 strikeouts.
Sasaki experienced a somewhat down season by his standards in 2024, with his ERA (2.35), WHIP (1.04), strikeout rate (28.7%), walk rate (7.1%) and K/BB ratio (4.03) regressing and his average fastball velocity dropping from 98.9 mph to 96.9 mph year over year.
Still, Sasaki should inspire a fierce pursuit reminiscent of Shohei Ohtani’s initial contract with the Angels, in the interest of the entire league and with limited financial reach. Ohtani agreed to a $2.315 million signing bonus with the Angels in December 2017.
An unrestricted market would have resulted in a much larger contract, but foreign-born players are subject to international bonus money restrictions unless they are at least 25 years old and have played professionally in a recognized foreign league. by Major League Baseball for a minimum of six seasons.
Ohtani was not yet 25 years old when he was authorized to leave by the Ham Fighters, so the Collective Bargaining Agreement classified him as an international amateur player. Sasaki now falls into the same category. Like Ohtani in 2017, any MLB team that signs Sasaki would have him under their control for six years of service before he would be eligible for unrestricted free agency.
By contrast, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had already turned 25 when he was released by Orix last season, so he was not subject to any salary restrictions as a free agent. He ended up signing a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers in January, the largest contract for a pitcher in baseball history.
Yamamoto’s contract followed the record 10-year, $700 million contract Ohtani signed as a free agent with the Dodgers in December. Together, the two Japanese stars helped Los Angeles win a World Series title in 2024.
The Dodgers, whose global brand has never been more powerful, are seen as the leading candidates to sign Sasaki when he becomes available. Sasaki, Ohtani and Yamamoto played together for their home country in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, leading Samurai Japan to the WBC title.
Once Sasaki is assigned, the 30 MLB clubs will have 45 days to negotiate with him. Under the rules of the player assignment system, if an agreement is not reached in that period, Sasaki would return to his NPB club for the 2025 season and would not be eligible to be assigned again until the next offseason.
The MLB club that signs Sasaki will have to pay a “release fee” to Chiba Lotte. For Major League Baseball contracts with a total guaranteed value of $25 million or less, the release fee is 20 percent of the total guaranteed value of the contract.
