(Photo credit score: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
Prized Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki is drawing curiosity from 20 main league groups and is predicted to affix one in every of them in mid-January, his agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman Group, advised reporters on Monday.
Wolfe stated that Sasaki has had conferences with “a set few number of teams” and is at present at dwelling in Japan enthusiastic about his subsequent steps. The 23-year-old should make his choice through the again half of January, because the worldwide signing interval opens on Jan. 15 and Sasaki’s posting window closes eight days afterward Jan. 23.
When it comes to selecting his subsequent dwelling, Sasaki is on the lookout for a group that may convey out the perfect in him, in keeping with his agent.
“He doesn’t seem to look at it in the typical way that other players do,” Wolfe stated. “He has a extra long-term, world view of issues. I consider Roki can be very within the pitching improvement and the way a group goes to assist him get higher, each within the close to future and over the course of his profession.
“He didn’t seem overly concerned about whether a team had Japanese players on their team or not, which, in the past, when I represented Japanese players, that was sometimes an issue. That was never a topic of discussion.”
Thanks to a fastball that ceaselessly touches 100 mph and a splitter that always misses bats, Sasaki has shined whereas taking part in for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball since 2021.
In 394 2/3 innings with the membership, Sasaki had 29-15 file with a 2.10 ERA and 505 strikeouts in opposition to 88 walks.
Sasaki had his 45-day posting window open on Dec. 15.
–Field Level Media