The Los Angeles Dodgers are formally introducing Roki Sasaki during a press conference at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, Jan. 22, beginning at 3 p.m. PT.
It’s the third press conference the Dodgers have held during a busy offseason to introduce their newest stars. They previously welcomed Blake Snell to the organization and re-signed Teoscar Hernández.
The Dodgers officially signed Sasaki on Wednesday morning, one day ahead of the Jan. 23 deadline when his 45-day posting window closed.
The Japanese phenom signed with the Dodgers after a thorough posting process that included meeting with several teams upon being posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in December.
Sasaki reportedly met with the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, New York Mets and New York Yankees at Wasserman’s offices in Southern California last month.
That group was narrowed down to three finalists in the Toronto Blue Jays, Padres and Dodgers. Sasaki visited Toronto last week and followed that by also making a trip to San Diego.
His meetings process then concluded with a Dodgers contingent at the Bel Air home of owner Peter Guber. Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Tommy Edman, Will Smith and Shohei Ohtani reportedly were part of the Dodgers’ second meeting with Sasaki.
Because Sasaki is just 23 years old and did not reach six years of service time in Nippon Professional Baseball, he was subject to MLB’s rules for international amateurs.
That capped his signing bonus with the Dodgers at $6.5 million. However, he turned down more lucrative offers from the Padres and Blue Jays, with the former offering their full $10 million.
Sasaki is becoming 13th Japanese-born player to don a Dodgers uniform, joining manager Dave Roberts (2002-2004), Hideo Nomo (1995-1998, 2002-2004), Masao Kida (2003-2004), Kazuhisa Ishii (2002-2004), Norihiro Nakamura (2005), Takashi Saito (2006-2008), Hiroki Kuroda (2008-2011), Kenta Maeda (2016-2019), Yu Darvish (2017), Yoshi Tsutsugo (2021) and teammates Shohei Ohtani (2024-) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2024-).
It will be the second straight season the Dodgers carry two or more Japanese born players and the first time in franchise history with three on the same roster.
In his final season in the NPB, Sasaki went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 111 innings. He struck out 129 batters against 32 walks while posting a 1.04 WHIP.
The two-time NPB All-Star (2022, 2023) had his best campaign in 2022, going 9-4 with a 2.02 ERA with two complete games.
The 6-foot-2 pitcher went 30-15 with a 2.02 ERA in four seasons with the Mariners. He struck out 524 batters in 414.2 innings with three complete games and posted a 0.88 WHIP in 69 career games.
How to watch Roki Sasaki’s press conference
SportsNet LA is televising Sasaki’s press conference in its entirety with coverage beginning at 3 p.m. PT. AM 570 L.A. Sports is also going to carry a radio broadcast that can be accessed through the iHeart Radio app as well.
In addition, the DodgerBlue.com YouTube channel will have the full Sasaki press conference. A live stream of Sasaki’s press conference can also be watched in the video above.
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