In his latest start, the New York Yankees and New York Mets scouted 22-year-old Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, according to sources in Japan. The Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals were also present at the game. However, it is unclear when Sasaki will be posted for Major League Baseball (MLB) teams as he had asked his team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, to post him during the offseason, but the request was denied. If Sasaki is posted before his 25th birthday, he will have to sign a minor league deal due to MLB rules prohibiting players under 25 with fewer than six professional seasons from signing anything else. The deal would be included in his signing team’s international bonus pool allotment.
In comparison to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who did not have as impressive stats in his first three professional seasons in Japan, Sasaki has been dominant with a 1.90 ERA and 0.82 WHIP while striking out 395 batters in 303.2 innings over 51 games. His strikeout rate has increased from 9.4 per nine in his first season to 12.0 in 2022 and 13.4 in 2023. When Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017 at the age of 23, he only received $2.315 million due to the same rule that Sasaki is facing now.
