While Roki Sasaki has reportedly met with five Major League Baseball teams already, others are waiting to schedule a meeting with the talented free agent pitcher — including one American League playoff team.
Detroit Tigers general manager Scott Harris told reporters Friday his team has submitted a pitch to Sasaki’s agent, and are now waiting to hear back about whether they will be able to meet with the pitcher in person.
Scott Harris said the Tigers submitted all their materials and presentation to Joel Wolfe, the agent for top Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki, and are now waiting to hear back if they’ll be one of the teams to get a post-holiday meeting to make their pitch.
— Evan Woodbery (@evanwoodbery) December 27, 2024
“We submitted all of our materials and our presentation,” Harris said, via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. “We understand that we are supposed to hear back after the holidays.”
Sasaki will not finalize his contract before Jan. 15, when the 2025 international amateur signing period begins. He’s currently in the middle of a 45-day negotiating window with major league teams.
Because Sasaki is 23 years old and lacks the requisite experience pitching at the highest level in Japan, he is limited to a signing bonus within a team’s international amateur spending pool limits. That means he can make no more than an approximate $7.5 million bonus, on top of the major league minimum salary, in 2025.
Between his affordable salary and tremendous talent, Sasaki is the most coveted free agent available this offseason.
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When he was 20, Sasaki threw a 19-strikeout perfect game for the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2022. In his next start, he threw eight more perfect innings in a row. In the 2023 World Baseball Classic, his fastball sat 100 mph.
Last season, Sasaki went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 18 starts for Chiba Lotte, with 129 strikeouts in 111 innings. The Marines formally posted him during the Winter Meetings.
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The Texas Rangers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs are all reported to have met with Sasaki and his representatives earlier this month in Southern California.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres have long been viewed as the favorites to sign Sasaki. A team based in the Midwest without a long history of signing Japanese-born players, such as the Tigers, would be considered an underdog.
More news: Yankees, Dodgers, Mets Begin Pursuit of Roki Sasaki
The Tigers currently employ Japanese-born pitcher Kenta Maeda, 36, who has played in MLB since 2016. He’s only the third Japanese-born player to pitch in Detroit, following Masao Kida and Hideo Nomo, both of whom debuted before Sasaki was born.
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