Magic Johnson welcomes Roki Sasaki to Dodgers with signed Lakers jersey
Yesterday at 01:28 AM
The Los Angeles Dodgers have landed one of the most exciting young arms in baseball, 23-year-old Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki. He’s coming over with a $6.5 million signing bonus under MLB’s international bonus pool rules, and if his track record in Japan is any indication, Dodgers fans have a lot to look forward to. During his four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Nippon Professional Baseball, Sasaki posted an impressive 2.10 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP and scored 505 strikeouts over 394.2 innings.
To welcome him to LA, Sasaki met Dodgers part-owner Magic Johnson, who gave him a signed Lakers jersey. Leave it to Magic to roll out the red carpet. He even hyped the signing on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Welcome to Los Angeles and the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Roki Sasaki! It’s a great day to be a Dodger fan!” Johnson has been part of the Dodgers’ ownership group since 2012, and under his leadership, the team has won two World Series titles and had five seasons with 100+ wins.
The Dodgers didn’t just stumble into this signing, they made it clear Sasaki was their top priority. They even traded outfielders Dylan Campbell and Arnaldo Lantigua to free up space in their international bonus pool. Now, Sasaki joins an already-loaded starting rotation with names like Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They’re going with a six-man rotation this year, which should make Sasaki’s move to MLB a little smoother.
It’s no surprise there was a bidding war for Sasaki. He was ranked as the No. 3 free agent this offseason, behind only Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes, and more than 20 teams were interested. The San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Yankees all tried their best, but Sasaki chose the Dodgers, probably because of their strong connection to Japan and the recent signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
In 2022, Sasaki became the youngest pitcher in NPB history to throw a perfect game, striking out 13 batters in a row, which, by the way, is an NPB record. And if that wasn’t enough, he came back in his next start and threw eight more perfect innings. Last season, he dealt with some injuries (shoulder inflammation and an oblique issue) but still managed to put up great numbers, including a 2.35 ERA, a 1.036 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts in just 111 innings.
This feels like another huge win for the Dodgers. They’ve been fully focused on strengthening their pitching, and even though injuries caused some setbacks last year, they still managed to bring home their eighth championship. And with Sasaki, they’re all in on chasing championship number nine.
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