LOS ANGELES — Roki Sasaki, the latest prized pitcher from Japan making his way to Major League Baseball, wrote in an Instagram post Friday that he intends to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A 23-year-old right-hander whose fastball tops 100 mph, Sasaki will join fellow Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the roster of the reigning World Series champions, a move many baseball executives have long expected.
Media reports indicated the San Diego Padres — among the rivals to the Dodgers in the National League West Division — and the American League’s Toronto Blue Jays were the other finalists still in pursuit of Sasaki, who has until Thursday to finalize a contract.
“I have signed a minor contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” read Sasaki’s post, which was in Japanese. “It was a very difficult decision, but I will do my best I can feel this was a correct decision, once I look back on my life as a baseball player. At my news conference for joining the club, I hope to wear my Dodgers uniform, feeling gratitude for all those who have supported me.”
The Dodgers have up to $5,146,200 available in their international signing bonus pool, though the club could make trades in the next week to increase the amount by up to 60%.
Hours after the news broke, Los Angeles sent 19-year-old minor league outfielder Arnaldo Lantigua to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for international cap space. Lantigua batted .301 with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs over 49 games in the rookie-level Dominican Summer League last season.
The Dodgers are planning to use a six-man rotation on the mound, which could ease Sasaki’s transition to the majors, as they attempt to become MLB’s first repeat champion since the AL’s New York Yankees won three straight World Series from 1998 to 2000.
Sasaki was made available to MLB teams for a 45-day window by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League under the posting agreement between Nippon Professional Baseball and MLB. Because he is younger than 25 and does not have six years of service time in NPB, Sasaki is considered an international amateur by MLB and is limited to a minor league contract subject to the signing pools.
The Marines will get a release fee calculated at 25% of the amount of Sasaki’s signing bonus.
During a news conference at the winter meetings last month, Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, denied an agreement with the Dodgers was already in place. Wolfe said MLB had investigated.
“There was a lot of discussion in the media, in the league, in NPB about Roki’s situation,” Wolfe said. “There were some accusations, allegations, all of them false, made about predetermined deals, things like that.
“However, MLB rightly wanted to make sure that this was going to be a fair and level playing field for everyone, so they did their due diligence and interviewed numerous parties ahead of time to make sure that that was the case.”
Sasaki was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 18 games last year, striking out 129 batters in 111 innings during a season limited by shoulder inflammation. He went 7-4 with a 1.78 ERA in 15 starts in 2023, when he had an oblique injury. He has a 29-15 career record with a 2.10 ERA over four seasons with the Marines and pitched a perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes in April 2022.
The Dodgers’ first spring training workout is Feb. 11 in Glendale, Arizona. They will open MLB’s 2025 regular season with a two-game series against the Chicago Cubs on March 18-19 in Tokyo.