Dodgers ace Roki Sasaki honors Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba with special gift before Tokyo Series

LA Dodgers' latest Japanese ace, Roki Sasaki, has been the talk of the town since signing a minor league contract with the World Series champions in January. He made the difficult choice of selecting LA from a pool of credible suitors, which also had the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, who strongly pursued to sign his talents for the upcoming season.

The 23-year-old amateur will be earning a rookie's salary for the 2025 MLB season alongside a $6.5 million signing bonus and will be under six years of club control. He was named on the Dodgers' 31-man roster for the Tokyo Series and has already reached his homeland along with his fellow teammates.

On Friday, Roki Sasaki met Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in a special meet-and-greet ceremony and gifted the PM a signed Dodgers cap, which he immediately wore. The duo addressed the media and got some pictures clicked at the press event, which was also attended by Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter.

Take a look at the video here:

"Roki Sasaki gifting signed Dodgers hat to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba 🎁 🧢 🇯🇵"

Sasaki played four seasons in the NPB with the Chiba Lotte Marines before finally making the grand switch to the MLB for the upcoming season. Baseball America and MLB Pipeline have already named him the No. 1 overall prospect ahead of the 2025 season.

Roki Sasaki is expected to start Game 2 of the Tokyo Series on Wednesday and will be up against Chicago Cubs southpaw Justin Steele. Besides giving an early glimpse of his skill set in spring training, Sasaki made another surprising announcement that pertains to his personal life.

Dodgers ace Roki Sasaki made a surprise announcement about his marriage via a social media post

Sasaki shared a cryptic social media post on Feb. 20, which was a surprise announcement of the rookie being married to someone special. In the post, he shared an image of two Dodgers hats kept adjacent to each other, with a caption that read:

"Thank you for your continued support. The other day, I entered into the family with a common woman. A fresh start in public and private sectors and I'm filled with expectations and anxiety. We will work hard as a couple, so please keep a warm eye on us."

While Roki Sasaki didn't disclose any details regarding his partner, the couple will surely be welcomed with open arms by the city of LA, like it did in 2024 for Shohei Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka.