Roki Sasaki was formally introduced by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a press conference at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
The Japanese phenom was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in December and immediately became one of the most coveted free agents of the offseason.
He met with several interested teams before narrowing down the group to three finalists and signing with the Dodgers. “I’m truly grateful to all the team officials who took the time to meet with me during this process,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton.
“I spent the past month embracing and reflecting on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to choose a place purely based on where I can grow as a player the most. Every organization helped me in its own way and it was an incredibly difficult decision to choose just one.
“I am fully aware that there are many different opinions out there, but now that I’ve decided to come here, I want to move forward with the belief that the decision I made is the best one, trust in those who have believed in my potential and conviction in the goals that I set for myself.”
Sasaki took his time with making a decision and believes the Dodgers were the best fit for him as he makes the jump to MLB.
“I had the opportunity to speak to a lot of teams, and they had a lot of appealing features, but overall when I looked at the general consensus, I thought the Dodgers were at the top,” Sasaki said.
Sasaki will become the 13th Japanese-born player to play for the Dodgers, 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 current teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Sasaki went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 111 innings for the Marines last year. He finished his career in Japan with a 30-15 record and 2.02 ERA across four seasons.
The 23-year-old is now set to be part of a Dodgers rotation that should include Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yamamoto and eventually Ohtani, among others.
Roki Sasaki turned down larger offers to sign with Dodgers
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 San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, with the former offering their full $10 million.
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