Roki Sasaki is the most desired young pitcher in Japan and, to the delight of the New York Yankees, the elite ace will be posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball franchise this offseason.
Yankees to enter sweepstakes for Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki this offseason
The Chiba Lotte Marines of the NPB will make Sasaki available to test the waters overseas in the big leagues. The 23-year-old righty tore through his 2024 season in Japan, earning a 2.35 ERA along with a 1.036 WHIP while retiring 129 batters across 111 innings pitched.
Sasaki has not had a single season in his four-year professional career where he’s boasted an ERA north of 3.00. His stuff is also praiseworthy. The 6-2, 187-pound prospect tops out at 100 mph on his fastball. MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan shared that impressive metric as well as these tidbits in his report of Sasaki’s impending move to the Majors, saying:
“The righty pitched the 16th perfect game in NPB history against the Orix Buffaloes on April 10, 2022, while also tying the NPB record with 19 strikeouts and setting a record with 13 consecutive K’s. He followed that up with another flawless start against the Nippon Ham-Fighters, tossing eight perfect innings with 14 K’s,” Harrigan wrote.
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Sasaki could greatly bolster the Yankees’ rotation at the top
He’s efficient, precise in the strike zone, and markedly effective at generating wins. The Yankees could use a player of his ilk as their rotation had their high and low moments throughout the 2024 campaign, culminating in starters Marcus Stroman not making the playoffs roster and Nestor Cortes coming under fire for inconsistent play. He’d make a potent trio of ace-caliber flamethrowers on the mound for the Yankees next to 2023 American League MVP Gerrit Cole and rising superstar Luis Gil.
The Yankees will have competition to land Sasaki and may need to unload their full international pool money to bring him on board. While he won’t garner a $325 million deal the way his compatriot Yoshinobu Yamamoto did last offseason, he’ll require the highest bidder to win him over. That is only magnified by the notion that he’d be inclined to play next to his countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto on the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025.
