Sasaki Mania Sweeps LA! Can the Dodgers Super Prospect Live Up to the Hype?
The 23-year old Japanese import, Roki Sasaki, chose the Los Angeles Dodgers as the organization for his starting point for his MLB career. But is the hype for real?
Sasaki started his professional baseball career in 2021, with the Chiba Lotte Marines, of the Japanese Professional Baseball League. Through four seasons he compiled a 30-15 win/loss record and a career 2.02 ERA. Through 69 professional games, Sasaki struck out 524 batters, through 414.2 innings, and a .0883 WHIP.
The MLB Top 100 prospects were released the other day and Sasaki leads the pack as the #1 overall Prospect in all of baseball.
Key Points with his repertoire; he is known for a powerful fastball that can reach up to three-digit speeds and has an elite splitter, which is considered to be the most effective pitch in is arsenal.
During the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the Japanese Phenom finished the tournament with a 3.52 ERA and 11 strikeouts, with his fastball reaching speeds up to 102.5 MPH.
There are reports that some have evaluated him as being one the best pitcher in the world, with executives also comparing him to a young Stephen Strasburg.
The Dodgers rotation is really strong, with Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani, so adding Sasaki to that mix, almost guarantees that the Dodgers should be the favorites to win another World Series in 2025 and for the foreseeable future.
Saski does not have to be brilliant in his first season to make a major impact to the Dodgers rotation, but with what he has shown in the past against Major League hitters on the world stage, there is not doubt that his star shines the brightest in 2025. With fellow countrymen Ohtani and Yamamoto helping Sasaki to adapt to living in the United States and maneuvering the every day grind of being a big leaguer, there is no better recipe for success than in L.A.
Can He deliver what is expected in 2025? Yes and more as the young right handed stud has all the tools in place to garner the success coming his way.
Another star is rising in a Dodgers Uniform.
