Pitching’s Next Big Thing: Rōki Sasaki Officially Available in Free Agency

Roki Sasaki was officially posted to Major League Baseball teams on Monday morning.

The Japanese right-hander will be available to sign as a free agent from Tuesday through 2 p.m. PT on Jan. 23. If no deal is reached by the deadline, he will return to Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2025 season.

It’s hard to imagine Sasaki not agreeing to a deal with so many teams interested in him. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been seen as the favorite to sign for quite some time and rumors have swirled around the two parties already agreeing to an off-the-books deal.

With Samurai Japan teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani already with the Dodgers and winning a World Series in their debut season with the club, their is an obviousl appeal.

Represented by Joel Wolfe of Wasserman Media Group, Sasaki is one of the most in-demand pitchers in MLB free agency. This year, he went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 18 games, striking out 129 batters over 111 innings.

Sasaki was a key contributor to Japan’s victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Known for his fastball, which has reached 102.5 mph, he holds a 29-15 career record with a 2.10 ERA over four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines, despite injury setbacks. Notably, he threw a perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes in April 2022, striking out 13 consecutive batters and finishing with 19 strikeouts.

“Since I joined the team, the team has been listening to my thoughts about my future MLB challenge, and I am very grateful to the team for officially allowing me to post,” Sasaki said in a Nov. 9 statement posted by the Marines on X (formerly Twitter).

“There were many things that did not go well during my five years with the Marines, but I was able to get to this point by concentrating only on baseball, with the support of my teammates, staff, front office, and fans. I will do my best to work my way up from my minor contract to become the best player in the world, so that I will have no regrets in my one and only baseball career and live up to the expectations of everyone who has supported me.”

The MLB team that signs Sasaki will pay Chiba a posting fee amounting to 25 percent of his signing bonus.