Roki Sasaki (24) of the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese professional baseball league has already been mentioned as a candidate for the Rookie of the Year award in the Major League.
Major League Baseball's official media MLB.com released fans' Q&A ahead of the announcement of the 2025 season prospect ranking on the 11th (Korea Standard Time).
One of the biggest interests of fans of the Major League ahead of the 2025 season is Sasaki, which is scheduled to enter the Major League through posting. Sasaki is Japan's best ace pitcher who recorded 29 wins and 15 losses with an earned run average of 2.10 in 64 games (394 ⅔ innings) in the Japanese pro baseball league. He became the youngest Japanese pro baseball player to play a perfect game in 2022, becoming the ace in the national baseball league.
Sasaki, who has received positive reviews from Major League teams for his fastballs and sharp splitters that exceed 160 kilometers per hour, is considered a risk factor for injury every year, although his skills and potential are remarkable. Since his debut, Sasaki has never met the stipulated innings, and this year he has failed to reach the stipulated innings as he has recorded 10 wins, 5 losses and an earned run average of 2.35 in 18 games (111 innings). However, Chiba Lotte has decided to allow Sasaki to post in recognition of his first 10 wins since his debut.
Since Sasaki is a player under the age of 25, he is only allowed to sign an international amateur contract with a major league club under the current CBA regulations. Therefore, Sasaki cannot sign a large contract and must sign a rookie contract within the international bonus pool held by each club. Due to this regulation, Shohei Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, 700 million-dollar contract with the Dodgers last winter, signed a contract with the Angels in December 2017 and had to play for the Angels for six years for only $2.315 million (about 3.4 billion won). Sasaki is also expected to be limited to up to 7 million dollars (about 10.3 billion won). Sasaki is likely to sign a contract after January 15, when the international bonus will be initialized as of this year.
Sasaki, who has already displayed his skills in Japanese professional baseball and international leagues, is considered the most promising candidate for the Rookie of the Year award regardless of whether he is an American League or the National League. "Sasaki is definitely the hottest topic in the baseball world right now. Everyone is watching where he is headed," MLB.com said, highlighting his destination.
Since the posting, more than 20 major league teams have expressed their intention to recruit Sasaki. Sasaki went to the U.S. and met with Dodgers, Cubs, San Francisco, Mets, San Diego, Texas and Yankees in person. MLB.com also reported that there may be teams that met Sasaki but are still unknown.
"Almost everyone who participated in this survey beyond the front office agreed that it doesn't matter which league Sasaki goes to," MLB.com , which noted, "He will be the most likely candidate for the Rookie of the Year award no matter which team he goes to." 안전놀이터
Of course, good rookie players who are considered nominees for the Rookie of the Year award are waiting for their performance this year. "Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews is very popular in the National League. In the American League, players such as Roman Anthony (Boston), Jackson Jove (Detroit), Jason Dominguez (Yankees) and Kobe Mayo (Baltimore) are likely to be picked," said MLB.com .