The Los Angeles Dodgers have landed one of the thrilling younger arms in baseball, 23-year-old Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki. He is coming over with a $6.5 million signing bonus underneath MLB’s worldwide bonus pool guidelines, and if his monitor document in Japan is any indication, Dodgers followers have quite a bit to sit up for. Throughout his 4 seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Nippon Skilled Baseball, Sasaki posted a formidable 2.10 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP and scored 505 strikeouts over 394.2 innings.
To welcome him to LA, Sasaki met Dodgers part-owner Magic Johnson, who gave him a signed Lakers jersey. Depart it to Magic to roll out the crimson carpet. He even hyped the signing on X (previously Twitter), writing, “Welcome to Los Angeles and the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Roki Sasaki! It is an awesome day to be a Dodger fan!” Johnson has been a part of the Dodgers’ possession group since 2012, and underneath his management, the group has received two World Collection titles and had 5 seasons with 100+ wins.
The Dodgers did not simply stumble into this signing, they made it clear Sasaki was their prime precedence. They even traded outfielders Dylan Campbell and Arnaldo Lantigua to release area of their worldwide bonus pool. Now, Sasaki joins an already-loaded beginning rotation with names like Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They are going with a six-man rotation this yr, which ought to make Sasaki’s transfer to MLB slightly smoother.
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It is no shock there was a bidding conflict for Sasaki. He was ranked because the No. 3 free agent this offseason, behind solely Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes, and greater than 20 groups had been . The San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Yankees all tried their finest, however Sasaki selected the Dodgers, in all probability due to their sturdy connection to Japan and the current signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
In 2022, Sasaki grew to become the youngest pitcher in NPB historical past to throw an ideal sport, putting out 13 batters in a row, which, by the way in which, is an NPB document. And if that wasn’t sufficient, he got here again in his subsequent begin and threw eight extra good innings. Final season, he handled some accidents (shoulder irritation and an indirect problem) however nonetheless managed to place up nice numbers, together with a 2.35 ERA, a 1.036 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts in simply 111 innings.
This seems like one other big win for the Dodgers. They have been absolutely targeted on strengthening their pitching, and although accidents brought about some setbacks final yr, they nonetheless managed to carry house their eighth championship. And with Sasaki, they’re all in on chasing championship quantity 9.