The most intriguing free agent of the offseason will wear Dodger Blue to begin his big league career.
Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki has agreed to sign with the Dodgers, he announced in a post on Instagram on Friday afternoon. The club sent out a release confirming the signing on Wednesday, with an introductory press conference set for 3 p.m. PT.
Sasaki, considered by many to be one of the most talented young pitchers in the world, had until Thursday to sign with a Major League team after being posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Chiba Lotte Marines. Because Sasaki is younger than 25 years old, he is considered an amateur international free agent, meaning he comes with six years of club control and will earn a rookie salary in 2025 (in addition to a $6.5 million signing bonus, according to a report by The Athletic).
Sasaki's fit with the Dodgers was clear. While his agent, Joel Wolfe, did not divulge many specifics about his client's preferences, Wolfe mentioned that there had been conversations about factors such as market size, location, team success and whether teams already had Japanese players.
While Sasaki had opinions on those factors, Wolfe said, he "doesn't seem to look at it in the typical way that other players do." What matters most to Sasaki is having the resources to become one of the greatest pitchers of all time.
That's a big part of why Sasaki chose to come to the Majors at this point in his career. Had he held out two more years, he could have positioned himself to earn a contract more in line with that of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who got the largest guaranteed contract for a pitcher in MLB history at 12 years and $325 million before throwing a pitch in the big leagues.
Sasaki has some of the most electric stuff in the world, headlined by his 100-plus mph fastball and a wipeout splitter, which could be one of MLB's nastiest pitches right away.
The 6-foot-3 flamethrower has been among the best pitchers in Japan since he debuted in NPB at age 19 in 2021, earning him the nickname "The Monster of the Reiwa Era." Over his four seasons with the Marines, Sasaki went 29-15 with a 2.10 ERA and 505 strikeouts in 394 2/3 innings (11.5 K/9).
The highlight of Sasaki's career to date came on April 10, 2022, when he turned in one of the greatest pitching performances in baseball history: a 19-strikeout perfect game against that year's eventual NPB champions, the Orix Buffaloes. Sasaki set a record with 13 consecutive strikeouts during his perfecto.
Sasaki's dominance in Japan was rivaled only by Yamamoto, the three-time Sawamura Award winner -- Japan's equivalent to the Cy Young -- who left Orix to sign a 12-year, $325 million deal with the Dodgers last year, joining Shohei Ohtani in L.A. and winning a World Series championship.
In Japan, Sasaki and Yamamoto faced off for the first time on April 14, 2023 -- and Sasaki outdueled Yamamoto. Yamamoto was good, throwing six innings of one-run baseball with nine strikeouts. But Sasaki was even better, pitching seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out 11 to lead Chiba Lotte to a shutout victory over Orix.
The 2023 World Baseball Classic, when the baseball world at large got an up-close look at Sasaki as he won gold with Samurai Japan, further convinced Sasaki that he was best served finding a way to play at the highest level of the game sooner rather than later.
Sasaki made two starts for Japan, against the Czech Republic and Mexico, and racked up 11 strikeouts -- including against MLB hitters like Randy Arozarena (with a 101.8 mph fastball) and Alex Verdugo (with a 91.2 mph splitter). Sasaki's fastball averaged 100.3 mph in the tournament, with 47 of his 65 heaters reaching triple digits, and his splitter averaged 90.9 mph and induced a 60% swing-and-miss rate.
"I think his experience at [the] WBC," Wolfe said on Dec. 30, "being around [Yu] Darvish, being around Ohtani, and then seeing [Shota] Imanaga come over and dominate at such a level in the first half, I believe he realized … in order to take it to the next level, he had to come here, play against the best players in the world every day and tap into all the resources that Major League teams have to … help him become one of the best pitchers to ever not just come out of NPB, but to be one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball."
The Dodgers are well-equipped to help Sasaki become just that, as they have a knack for bringing out the best in Major League-caliber arms. Because Sasaki has already seen great success at a high professional level, he shouldn't need a total overhaul, but rather some molding to help him realize his full potential.
Since Los Angeles is expected to use a six-man rotation to open the season, Sasaki would slot right in and be able to start on the schedule he's accustomed to from Japan. He'll join Blake Snell, Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, as well as some combination of Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Landon Knack in the Dodgers' projected season-opening rotation.
Further, the Dodgers can all but guarantee that they will field competitive teams during Sasaki's time in Los Angeles, a long-term outlook that not many teams can offer.
Signing Sasaki -- a controllable talent with a high ceiling on an affordable contract, to boot -- signals that the Dodgers are the team to watch in the long run. That's nothing new, as the club already had several key pieces locked up for the foreseeable future.
The Dodgers have their sights set on defending their title, and bringing in a player like Sasaki further raises the ceiling for what this roster is capable of accomplishing.