Roki Sasaki recently traveled back to Japan as he decides the next steps of his unusual free agency after meeting with teams in Los Angeles during an initial round of talks, his agent Joel Wolfe said Monday.
Sasaki, a 23-year-old right-hander, ranks as the No. 3 overall player and best player available in The Athletic’s Free Agent Big Board.
Sasaki may meet with one or two more teams, Wolfe said, but it may be more likely that he begins narrowing down the field of potential suitors. While back home in Japan, Sasaki will also consider whether he wants to visit a couple specific U.S. cities.
It is unknown precisely how many teams Sasaki met with. The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Cubs, Giants, and Rangers all reportedly received an in-person meeting with him. But there could be others. Wolfe declined to list any teams or provide a number during a webinar with reporters to update where things stand with the coveted pitcher.
Joel Wolfe, Roki Sasaki’s agent, said current players did not attend any of the in-person meetings. That was a request from Roki himself. A couple of teams included players in their video presentations.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) December 31, 2024
Teams cannot sign Sasaki until Jan. 15 when the new international signing period opens. Sasaki can only be signed through each team’s international bonus pools, which range from roughly $5.1 million to $7.5 million. Wolfe declined to answer specific questions regarding any financial figures.
As it stands, Wolfe said he does not anticipate Sasaki signing on precisely Jan. 15 but at some point between Jan. 15 and Jan. 23.
“The timeline for Round 2 is going to lead right up until he signs,” Wolfe said. “We’re still talking and having Zoom calls. So I don’t have a precise timeline for that, like we did for the meetings. Teams will be notified at some point if there’s going to be additional meetings or travel or something like that. But other than that, I don’t believe there’s going to be any specific timeline.”
After Sasaki’s posting earlier in December, 20 teams submitted materials to Wasserman, his agency, for consideration regarding potential meetings. Some teams sent in-depth power points, short films and books showcasing hours’ worth of research into Sasaki.
“It was like the Roki film festival,” Wolfe remarked.
All the initial meetings took place in Los Angeles, at a Wasserman office, and the meetings ran for the same amount of time, which was under two hours. Also, no players attended the meetings. Sasaki put these parameters in place, Wolfe said, to “preserve the integrity of the process.” The participants of the meetings ranged from team’s general managers, assistant general managers, managers, pitching coaches and people from biomechanics and training staffs.
Wolfe said Sasaki did not express much concern about whether a club had a Japanese player on its roster.
The agent and player have discussed location, market size and team success, but, Wolfe said, “he doesn’t seem to look at it in the typical way that other players do.”
“He has a more long-term, global view of things,” Wolfe said. “I believe Roki is also very interested in the pitching development and how a team is going to help him get better, both in the near future and over the course of his career.”
Player development was a key aspect that The Athletic outlined at the beginning of the Sasaki sweepstakes.
Pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball last season, Sasaki went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and a 1.036 WHIP. He struck out 129 and walked 32 in 111 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Sasaki could’ve waited a couple of years until after turning 25 years old to sign for more money and not be restricted by international bonus pool allowances. That’s what Yoshinobu Yamamoto did, and he signed for $325 million last winter. Sasaki didn’t want to wait, though, for a chance at playing in MLB.
“Roki is by no means a finished product,” Wolfe said. “He knows it, and the teams know it. He’s incredibly talented. We all know that. But he is a guy that wants to be great. He’s not coming here just to be rich or to get a huge contract. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greatest ever.
“I see that now, and he’s articulated it. And to be that, he knows he has to challenge himself. And I think his experience at the WBC, being around (Yu Darvish), being around (Shohei Ohtani), and then seeing (Shota Imanaga) come over and dominate at such a level in the first half, I believe he realized in order to take it to the next level, he had to come here, play against the best players in the world every day and tap into all the resources that major-league teams have to help him become one of the best pitchers to ever, not just come out in NPB, but to be one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball.
“That’s what he wants, and that’s why he came. That’s what I’ve learned.”
(Photo of Roki Sasaki: Eric Espada / Getty Images)
