The Dodgers’ signing of Roki Sasaki will become official in the coming days, but for now enjoy these stories related to the 23-year-old pitcher.
The Athletic had an entertaining quintuple-byline story on the timeline of teams courting Sasaki and his ultimate decision. Here’s an excerpt from the story written by Ken Rosenthal, Fabian Ardaya, Dennis Lin, Will Sammon, and Patrick Mooney, on Sasaki’s meeting with the Dodgers on Tuesday:
That interest last month seemed to bode well for the Dodgers on Tuesday, when their turn came to host Sasaki. Just as the Padres and Blue Jays had done, the Dodgers greeted Sasaki with a full complement of players. Former MVPs Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were in attendance, as were Sasaki’s future backstop, Will Smith, and the freshly-extended Tommy Edman. But the biggest star of them all was Ohtani, a teammate at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, who one official said was “driving the bus” in the effort to land Sasaki.
The meeting with Sasaki did not take place at Dodger Stadium, which is in the midst of multimillion-dollar renovations to each of the clubhouses and overall facilities. Instead, the Dodgers invited Sasaki and his camp to part-owner Peter Guber’s home in Bel Air. Aiming for a more relaxed atmosphere, a sushi chef was hired to come to Guber’s house and prepare dinner. The chef worked as Sasaki sat on the couch and chatted with his future teammates, who each vouched for what life was like with the reigning World Series champions.
J.J. Cooper at Baseball America outlined how Sasaki could potentially net the Dodgers an extra draft pick by meeting a few criteria:
- Sasaki is named to top-100 prospect lists in at least two of BA, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline
- Sasaki accrues a full season of service time in 2025
- Sasaki wins Rookie of the Year in 2025, or finishes in the top three in Cy Young Award voting prior to qualifying for arbitration
Cooper noted in his article that Sasaki will be in Baseball America’s top-100 list when its released on Wednesday. Kiley McDaniel at ESPN wrote Friday that Sasaki would be in his top-100 list as well, so that box is checked.
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