Young Japanese Phenom Signs with the Dodgers
23-year-old Japanese starting pitcher Roki Sasaki has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The deal is a minor league contract with a signing bonus of $6.5 million. Due to Sasaki being under the age of 25 and MLB’s international bonus pool rules, he was not able to negotiate a multi-year deal exceeding $7.1 million. Plus, because of the low cost, every team had the chance to sign Sasaki, one of the brightest young stars in baseball. Additionally, the Dodgers will be ordered to pay 20 percent of Sasaki’s contract to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball as a release fee since they posted him to be signed by a major league ballclub.
Roki Sasaki’s desire to come to the major leagues so early was surprising to many baseball insiders, but his determination to become a legendary pitcher is respectable. If Sasaki had waited to sign with an MLB team until 2026, he would have been able to sign a multi-year deal worth more than hundreds of millions of dollars, similar to the 12-year, $325 million contract that his countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed in the 2023-24 offseason. After a stellar performance for Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Sasaki knew he had what it takes to be an MLB star. After being inspired by his Japanese teammates like Yu Darvish, Shota Imanaga, and Shohei Ohtani in 2024, he could not wait any longer to make the move despite giving up on a much larger salary.
Although Sasaki will be a free agent soon, he still has plenty of tools to make an impact for the Dodgers this season. Sasaki held a 2.02 ERA after 69 starts in Japan. This includes a 30-15 record and a strikeout per nine innings of 11.4. Not only does Sasaki’s fastball have a top speed of 102 miles per hour, his fastball also averages 99 miles per hour. To put this into perspective, out of all qualified MLB pitchers last season, Sasaki would have ranked fourth in average fastball speed only behind only Justin Martínez, American League saves leader Emmanuel Clase, and National League saves leader Ryan Helsley. It would also rank him ahead of the fastest-throwing starters like José Soriano and Paul Skenes who averaged just below 99 miles per hour. These skills will not only allow Sasaki to hit the ground running for the Dodgers this season, but it will also allow him to be one of the most successful pitchers in Major League Baseball for years to come.
