The Los Angeles Dodgers have won the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes.
The 23-year-old star Japanese right-handed pitcher announced on his personal Instagram account Friday that he has agreed to sign with the Dodgers.
The move comes after Sasaki had reportedly narrowed his free agency destinations down to the Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays earlier this week.
The New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs were among the teams that reportedly received meetings with Sasaki but were eliminated on Monday, according to sources in each of their respective markets.
Sasaki was posted by Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chiba Lotte Marines in early December, which opened a 45-day window for teams to pursue a contract with the six-foot-two hurler.
Since Sasaki is considered an amateur international free agent, he is subject to MLB’s international amateur signing bonus pools, limiting how much teams could offer.
Team figures range from $7,555,500 to $5,146,200, though they were allowed to start trading allocations in $250,000 increments starting Jan. 15. They are limited to adding 60 per cent of their initial amount available through trade.
As a part of the 2025 international free-agent class, Sasaki could only agree to a deal between a window of Jan. 15 and Jan. 23.
Shohei Ohtani went through a similar system when he signed with the Los Angeles Angels for a $2,315,000 bonus ahead of the 2018 season.
At the end of December, Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, held court with reporters to discuss his client’s ongoing free agency. He said that 20 teams submitted information for the potential prize of the off-season to consider.
It seemed unlikely that the Marines would post Sasaki, due to the agreement between MLB and NPB that pays the posting club a percentage of the total value of the contract. Sasaki wouldn’t have become eligible for a move to MLB until the end of the 2026 season.
If Sasaki waited until after the 2026 season to sign with an MLB team, he could sign a major league contract as a free agent, possibly for hundreds of millions of dollars, similar to the deal Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed last off-season.
Sasaki features a fastball that touches 100 m.p.h. and a devastating splitter, helping him post a 2.35 ERA over 111.0 innings with the Marines in 2024. He also struck out 129 hitters while walking just 32.
His innings were limited due to a torn oblique and right arm soreness.
Sasaki rose to prominence as one of the best young pitchers in baseball in 2022, throwing a 19-strikeout perfect game before pitching for the World Baseball Classic-winning Japanese squad the following spring.
Over four seasons with Chiba Lotte, he owns a 2.02 ERA with 524 strikeouts in 414.2 innings.
— With files from The Associated Press
