Baseball

Japanese RHP Roki Sasaki Says He’s Signed with Dodgers

AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File
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, March 11, 2023.

Field Level Media

12:38 JST, January 18, 2025

Japanese star right-hander Roki Sasaki announced on Instagram Friday that he will sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sasaki, 23, was the most coveted international free agent of the MLB offseason. He chose to sign with the reigning World Series champions, who have bolstered their oft-injured starting rotation immensely since the winter began.

Sasaki will join a rotation that will be headlined by countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and also feature two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and 2024 All-Star Tyler Glasnow. Snell, most recently of the San Francisco Giants, also signed with Los Angeles this offseason.

Sasaki was reportedly down to the Dodgers, the San Diego Padres and the Toronto Blue Jays. Earlier Friday, veteran MLB reported that San Diego had been eliminated and the Dodgers and Blue Jays were the two finalists.

The signing period for international players opened on Wednesday, giving Sasaki and other players just eight days — until Thursday at 5 p.m. ET to sign a contract.

Terms of Sasaki’s new contract were not yet known.

Sasaki became a folk hero when he set a fastball record for high schoolers with a 101 mph clocking and introduced himself on the world stage during the World Baseball Classic in 2023. In his only start — a win against Mexico — Sasaki averaged 100.5 mph on his fastball.

He set a single-game record in Japan in 2022 with 19 strikeouts, including a stretch of 13 consecutive Ks, in a perfect game.