Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki has chosen the Los Angeles Dodgers to sign with, announcing his decision via social media on Friday.
The 23 year old phenom posted a Dodgers cap on Instagram with the caption “I have signed a minor contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a very difficult decision, but I will do my best to make it the right decision when I look back after my baseball career.”
“I want to slip my sleeve on the Dodgers uniform at the opening conference, thanking everyone who has supported me this far.”
Because of his age, Sasaki is subject to the international bonus pool system, which means that he could only sign a minor league deal. That being said, he’s a virtual lock to be on the club’s Opening Day roster as long as he’s healthy next spring. Reports indicate that Sasaki will receive a $6.5M signing bonus though that has yet to be officially confirmed by the club.
LA had been the favourites to land the top prospect since it was announced that he would be making the jump to the Major Leagues. However, Sasaki’s camp reportedly considered several other options very seriously including the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays.
Sasaki features a devastating splitter, a 100 mph fastball, and a plus slider that has confounded batters for four seasons in the NPB. The 6’2″ righty posted a 2.02 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP and 524 strikeouts against 91 walks across 414⅔ innings.
Sasaki has a perfect game under his belt while also holding an NPB record with 13 consecutive strikeouts. He, alongside new teammates Ohtani and Yamamoto also helped guide Japan to a World Baseball Classic title in 2023.
The Dodgers now possess an embarrassment of riches on the pitching front now as Sasaki joins one of the deepest rotations in the league. Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow will both return from last season’s group. Meanwhile Shohei Ohtani, who played only as a hitter in 2024 will resume pitching in 2025. Blake Snell was signed as a free agent and Clayton Kershaw is also expected to rejoin the team at some point.
And that’s before even discussing Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Bobby Miller who remain options should the Dodgers experience injuries, or opt to take a cautious approach with Ohtani’s return to pitching or Sasaki’s transition to an MLB schedule.
That being said, LA has Gavin Stone, Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt and River Ryan set to miss most or all of next season and Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, Nick Frasso and formerly touted rookie Bobby Miller looking for innings in 2025. That logjam of arms means the Dodgers could be active on the trade market in the lead up to spring training as they try to address other areas of their organization.
Unfortunately for the rest of the league, the rich keep getting richer on the west coast.
Photo: Reazn26. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.