"I've signed with Dodgers" Sasaki announces destination on social media 'like Otani'...The final choice was the Dodgers
"I've signed with Dodgers" Sasaki announces destination on social media 'like Otani'...The final choice was the Dodgers
Blog Article
Roki Sasaki, an ultra-low cost, ultra-high efficiency FA, has finally decided on a team to play in the Major League. Like Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he disclosed his destination on Instagram. He also belongs to the same team as the Los Angeles Dodgers.안전놀이터
Posting a picture of a blue Dodgers hat on Instagram on the morning of the 18th (Korea Standard Time), Sasaki wrote, "I signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a very difficult decision, but I will try to think that it was the right decision when I look back after my baseball life."
MLB.com immediately said, "Sasaki has chosen Dodgers. The winning team has even acquired a genius pitcher," adding, "As Sasaki from Japan chose Dodgers, he joined Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a strong starting rotation. Sasaki is one of the most promising young pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball. He is also the most promising international promising player since Ohtani."
Sasaki made his decision public shortly after it was reported that the San Diego Padres were eliminated from the final three teams on the night of the 17th.
Sasaki's decision started to be counted down from Friday when the international deposit limit was newly set for the new year. Many teams announced that they would be eliminated from the tournament. The final contenders were the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego, and the Dodgers. The San Diego Padres and the Dodgers tried their best to recruit Sasaki as they secured extra money for international deposit through trade.
On Nov. 9 last year, Sasaki received permission to post from his original team, Chiba Lotte Marines. Unlike the KBO League, the Japanese pro baseball league does not set a fixed number of years for players to post. This allowed Sasaki to play for Chiba Lotte for only five years and try to advance to the Major League. As he spent time building up his physical condition without playing games during his debut season, he played for the first team only for four seasons.
Moreover, Sasaki is a professional baseball player under the age of 25, so unlike other major league FA players, she can only receive down payment within the "down payment limit for overseas promising players." Chiba Lotte hardly receives any posting fees. Nevertheless, she respected the player's intention and allowed posting.
"Since I joined the team, I have been told by Sasaki that I want to play in the U.S.A. Since I joined the team, I have decided to make a comprehensive judgment for the past five years up to this year and respect his will," the team said. "It is a painful decision for me as a team, but I also know that I want to challenge myself at this young age. There are some unfinished parts, but I think I will be able to level up further if I improve myself in the U.S." Sasaki said through his team that he will try to become the world's best player by starting with a minor league contract so that he does not regret it in his once-in-a-lifetime baseball career.
Since his high school days, Sasaki has garnered high expectations as a promising fastball player. When he was a senior in high school, he recorded the maximum speed of 163 kilometers of fastballs, which made headlines. At the 2019 U-18 youth baseball World Cup held in Gijang, Busan, he was selected as a one-two punch for the Japanese national team along with Yasunobu Okugawa. Although he failed to pitch properly due to his injury, his every move caught the eye of not only the Japanese media but also scouts of the Major League.
After the competition ended, attention was focusing on whether he would advance to the Major League or not. Sasaki challenged Japan's professional baseball first. She became a professional baseball player after receiving the first pick by Chiba Lotte in the 2019 draft. Besides Chiba Lotte, the Nippon-Ham Fighters, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, and the Seibu Lions were all picked first by four teams, and her destination was decided by drawing lots. In her first year as a pro, she joined the first team but had time to build herself up without standing on the mound.
After a year of improvement, he recorded 3 wins, 2 losses and an ERA of 2.27 in 11 games in 2021, his second year as a member of the Korean pro baseball league and his first year as a member of the Korean pro league. In 2022, he doubled his pitching innings by posting 9 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 2.02 in 20 games. In his first year, he pitched in his second year of 129 ⅓ innings in 63 ⅓ innings. On April 10, 2022, he also recorded a perfect game with 105 pitches and 19 strikeouts in nine innings against the Orix Buffaloes. It was the youngest perfect game in Japanese pro baseball history.
Since then, Sasaki has consistently displayed good performance with seven wins and four losses and a 1.78 ERA in 15 games in 2023 and 10 wins and five losses and a 2.35 ERA in 18 games last year. On the other hand, his weakness is that he has never met the regular innings yet.
However, he was involved in controversy several times in the process of advancing to the Major League. Above all, he drew attention by holding behind-the-scenes negotiations as if holding a "public opinion contest" on when he would advance to the Major League. Due to his performance in the WBC (World Baseball Classic) in 2023, he attracted full-fledged attention in the Major League, and rumors spread that he would seek to advance to the Major League in an early stage. Despite his short career with Chiba Lotte, negative public opinion intensified over rumors that he was attempting to post something that required permission from the club.
Last year, he made a ruptured sound when he signed a contract for an annual salary. During the season, he was criticized for losing his physical condition while returning after being injured. "I played in the last game with a gap of about two weeks, but I think I had the same symptom again this time," Chiba Lotte coach Yoshii Masato said in July last year. "I canceled the game because I thought it would be difficult to play in six-day intervals." As for the timing of his return, he did not give any response, saying, "It's hard for me to say. It depends on the training part and how Sasaki feels." Tokyo Sports used the expression "meaningful words" in these lines.
Former Seibu Lions manager Ito Tsutomu, who was also a coach for the Doosan Bears, also left bitter comments about the delay in Sasaki's return. He pointed out on his YouTube channel, "I've never thrown (without missing) all year. I think I'm thinking about going to the Major League in the future, but I feel a little sorry as a viewer."