Shohei Ohtani (31) of the A Dodgers is expected to start recruiting Roki Sasaki (24) of the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese professional baseball league, who announced his entry into the Major League.스포츠토토
Japanese media Sports Hochi reported on the 16th (Korea Standard Time), "Will Shohei Otani attend the second meeting of Rocky Sasaki at the Dodgers. It can be reproduced that he played a role when Yoshinobu Yamamoto was recruited last winter."
Sasaki is Japan's best ace with 29 wins and 15 losses and an earned run average of 2.10 in 64 games (394 ⅔ innings) in the Japanese pro baseball league. He became the youngest Japanese pro baseball player to play a perfect game in 2022, becoming the ace in the national baseball league. Although he has yet to meet the stipulated innings due to his anxiety over injury every year, all Major League teams want to recruit him due to his tremendous potential.
Sasaki, who failed to reach the stipulated innings last year with 10 wins and 5 losses with a 2.35 ERA in 18 games (111 innings), was recognized for achieving his first 10 wins since his debut and obtained permission to post from Chiba Lotte. Sasaki, who has not yet turned 25, is only allowed to sign an international amateur contract with a Major League club under the current CBA (Labor-Management Collective Agreement). Therefore, the size of the contract will be limited by the international bonus pool, and chances are high that the contract will be signed soon as the international bonus pool was initialized as of this year on the 15th. The deadline for negotiations is the 24th.
When Sasaki was posted, Major League teams rushed to recruit him. Joel Wolf, Sasaki's agent, said that after the posting, 20 teams sent out presentations to express their intention to recruit him. Last year, Sasaki visited the U.S. and met with Dodgers, Cubs, San Francisco, Mets, San Diego, Texas, Yankees, and Toronto in person.
When he first met with Major League teams, Sasaki called on Major League teams not to share their players or retired legends with them. Wolf explained why, "Sasaki wanted both his decision-making process and his teams to compete in a fair and equitable arena."
However, Sasaki, who recently moved to the U.S. and is conducting her second meeting, seems to have allowed her players to be present, unlike the first meeting. When the meeting was already held with San Diego, Yu Darvish, who is close to Sasaki, was present, and Manny Macha, the team's top star, was also reportedly present.
The Athletic, a U.S. media outlet, said Sasaki met with the Dodgers on the 15th and "I think a star player was present." Sports Hochi predicted, "It is possible that Otani or Yamamoto was present. Key players such as Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman may have gathered."
Ohtani is the best superstar in the Major League with a batting average of 282 (878 hits in 3,119 at-bats), 225 homers, 567 RBIs, 562 runs, 145 steals, OPS .946, 38 wins, 19 losses and an ERA of 3.01 in 86 games (481 ⅔ innings) for pitchers. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in his first year since his debut, and later won the American League MVP award in 2021 and 2023 and the National League MVP award in 2024. Ohtani's persuasion is sufficient to affect players who are agonizing over their teams.
Already, Ohtani has moved directly to gather good players for the Dodgers. Last winter, Yamamoto and the Dodgers, who announced their entry into the Major League through posting, were present at the meeting, and they also actively sought to recruit players by sending video messages to Tyler Glasnow, who signed an extension contract after the trade. To Kim Hye-sung, who was training at the same facility this winter, Ohtani also said hello in Korean every day, "Hello Hyesung," and Kim Hye-sung chose the Dodgers on the 4th by signing a contract of up to $22 million (about 32.1 billion won) for 3+2 years with the Dodgers.
Sasaki has already reduced the number of team candidates to Dodgers, San Diego, and Toronto. There is a high possibility that Sasaki will choose San Diego, where he is close to, but the Dodgers, which boasts a strong record and is familiar with Japanese players, can also be an attractive team for Sasaki. Many fans are watching closely to see if Ohtani succeeded in persuading Sasaki, who is agonizing over the final issue.