ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki coming to NL West as member of the Dodgers

Jan 17, 2025, 4:48 PM | Updated: 5:23 pm

Roki Sasaki...

Roki Sasaki, of Japan, pitches during their Pool B game against the Czech Republic at the World Baseball Classic at the Tokyo Dome in Japan Saturday, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Japanese phenom starting pitcher Roki Sasaki has elected to join Arizona’s National League West foe in the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sasaki announced on Instagram on Friday.

The Dodgers and San Diego Padres were seen as favorites to land Sasaki since the start of the offseason, and multiple reports laid out L.A., San Diego and Toronto as his three finalists.

Sasaki is a 23-year-old fire-throwing right-hander with a nasty splitter. Due to his age and service time in Japan, he was not eligible for a massive contract similar to Yoshinobu Yamamoto last winter. International free agent restrictions limited Sasaki to a minor league deal, more closely comparable to current Dodger Shohei Ohtani’s deal with the Angels in 2017. His signing bonus is a reported $6.5 million. 

The 2025 international signing period opened on Wednesday, resetting each team’s bonus pools to spend on amateur players. Because of the price and his potential, Sasaki may be baseball’s most valuable contract if he lives up to his billing.

Sasaki threw 111 innings with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts last season for the Chiba Lotte Marines. He threw 91 innings with a 1.78 ERA in 2023, and back in 2022, he followed a perfect game with eight perfect innings, retiring 52 consecutive batters.

He played with Yamamoto and Ohtani with Team Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Arizona showed interest early in his free agency, but the Diamondbacks never got a meeting with Sasaki, according to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro. While every team in MLB would have benefitted from adding someone of his skillset on a minor league contract, the D-backs have the luxury of rostering a formidable rotation with Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and newcomer Corbin Burnes at the top.

Sasaki joins just a ridiculous pitching staff at this point, although the Dodgers and Diamondbacks have proven clubs can never have too much depth given the number of injuries to starting pitchers recently.

Los Angeles signed 2023 NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell earlier this offseason to join Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. Ohtani is set to pitch for them in 2025, although when exactly remains unclear. Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin missed all of 2024 and could return, while Clayton Kershaw remains unsigned after another injury-impacted season.

The Dodgers lost Walker Buehler in free agency to Boston, while Jack Flaherty remains unsigned.

San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb already compared them to the Monstars.

San Diego, in particular, really needed this win over the Dodgers, who eliminated the Padres last October.

The Dodgers were already going to be favorites for the division, while the Padres are in a tricky spot for their competitive window.

Sasaki would have slid into the rotation with Japanese pitching legend Yu Darvish, Dylan Cease and Michael King to form a strong top four as Joe Musgrove recovers from Tommy John surgery.

Cease and King will be free agents at the end of the year, and Darvish is 38 years old, so securing a young potential ace to build around going forward would have been a big deal for a franchise looking to remain competitive for a pennant. Reliever Tanner Scott and outfielder Jurickson Profar, meanwhile, are free agents.

The Padres have dished out mammoth contracts in the past few offseasons to Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts, but the franchise is not in the same position as it was. Passionate owner Peter Seidler died in 2023, and recently, his widow Sheel Seidler sued two of his brothers for control of the ballclub, claiming fraud among other accusations.

The NL West was the toughest division in MLB last season with a league-leading 421 combined wins even with the Rockies losing 101 games. It is expected to be among, if not the best division once again with Sasaki adding another potential star player to the group.

Even with the tough schedule, Burnes joined the D-backs with the belief Arizona could hold up against steep competition after a 2023 World Series run and 89-win season in 2024.

“I think it’s a group that could all come together at the right point this year and make us a very, very tough team,” Burnes told Arizona Sports’ Burnes & Gambo on Wednesday. “When I was in Milwaukee, it was always the Dodgers that knocked us out of the postseason. So hopefully this year we can knock them out.”

Key NL West additions after Roki Sasaki signing

Diamondbacks: RHP Corbin Burnes, 1B Josh Naylor

Dodgers: LHP Blake Snell, OF Michael Conforto, OF Teoscar Hernandez (re-signed), 2B Hyeseong Kim, RHP Blake Treinen (re-signed), RHP Roki Sasaki

Giants: SS Willy Adames, RHP Justin Veralander

Padres: N/A

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