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The 23-year-old right-hander announces he has agreed to sign with the World Series champions, forming a dream rotation for the Dodgers who land their man once again.
In a hardly surprising outcome, Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki announced on Friday (17 January) that he will begin his Major League Baseball career in 2025 with the World Series champions Dodgers.
The 23-year-old right-hander dropped the news via Instagram. He will join forces with countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who both signed with the Dodgers last winter for a combined US$1 billion.
“I will be signing a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Sasaki said in his brief post on Instagram.
“It was a difficult decision but I want to work had to make sure it was the right one when I look back on my career one day.”
According to various reports, Sasaki will receive a signing bonus of $6.5 million after signing a minor league contract since he is under 25. A date of his unveiling was not immediately known.
Roki Sasaki: Dodgers’ shiniest new man
The Dodgers got their man once again in Sasaki, who was pursued by 20 teams after his team in Nippon Professional Baseball, the Chiba Lotte Marines, announced they were making him available to MLB clubs via the posting system. His age, and because of it the relatively cheap price tag, made him alluring to all.
In four years in Japan, Sasaki, armed with a 100-plus mph (160 kph) fastball and a buckling splitter, had a 2.10 ERA and 0.89 WHIP (walks/hits per inning). He was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and a 1.036 WHIP in 2024.
Sasaki forms a mind-boggling rotation with Ohtani, Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Cy Young winners Clayton Kershaw and Blake SnellKershaw, the Dodgers’ other prized signing of the off-season.
Los Angeles beat out their National League West rivals, the San Diego Padres, and the Toronto Blue Jays for Sasaki’s services without having to spend a ton of money as they did to acquire Ohtani and Yamamoto.
Despite his enormous upside as a potential ace, Sasaki will have to prove he can stay healthy over the course of a brutal, 162-game major league season. With the Marines, he was not able to get through a year without injury; last year, he had shoulder and oblique issues.
The Dodgers open the new season in Japan against the Chicago Cubs on 18-19 March at Tokyo Dome.
