"I will have no regrets in my one and only baseball career" - Roki Sasaki hopes to 'live up to expectations' as he aims to enter MLB stardom in 2025

On Saturday, the Chiba Lotte Marines of NPB announced that pitcher Roki Sasaki would be getting posted. Under the terms, Sasaki will have 45 days to agree to terms with an MLB club.

The 23-year-old Roki Sasaki has been turning heads in Japan for a while. The posting date has not yet been set. Should no deal come within the 45 days of posting, then Sasaki will be pursued when the international free agency period starts on January 15.

Understanding the magnitude of this period, Sasaki recently took to his X account to share his thoughts. In a long, spirited post, the 6-foot-2 right-hander shared that he was beginning the posting process before claiming:

"I will do my best to work my way up from my minor contract to become the best player in the world, so that I will have no regrets in my one and only baseball career and so that I can live up to the expectations of everyone who has supported me this time."

Ever since the Los Angeles Dodgers spent $325 million securing Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, several teams have been looking to Japan for elite pitching talent. Yamamoto, who was unproven in MLB before 2024 went 7-2 with a 3.00 in his rookie MLB season.

Like Shohei Ohtani, Sasaki comes from Iwate Prefecture. Renowned for a screaming fastball that can hit 102.5 mph, Sasaki also incorporates a curveball, slider and forkball. He has been selected to play on the NPB All-Star team twice.

"Roki Sasaki's Disgusting Offspeed Stuff. Good luck. And, yes, he's 21 years old." - Pitching Ninja

The purveyor of a perfect game in April 2022, Roki Sasaki set the NPB single-game record with 19 strikeouts that game, 13 of them coming consecutively. In the 2024 season playing for the Lotte Marines, Sasaki went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 111 innings.

MLB insiders begin to mull Roki Sasaki destinations

Despite his friendship with veteran San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish, many still consider the Dodgers the frontrunners in the race to sign Sasaki. As Ken Rosenthal recently told Foul Territory:

“The suspicion among many in the industry, almost everyone in the industry, that if this guy is posted, Roki Sasaki becomes available, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be heavy, heavy favorites to sign him"

Set to be a busy few months for the Japanese flamethrower, Sasaki can rest assured that he will be met with plenty of interest when his posting finally kicks off.