Roki Sasaki Free Agency Status
Roki Sasaki Free Agency Status
By Lachlan Wellington November 22, 2024 05:45
We are but a year removed from Yoshinobu Yamamoto signing the most lucrative contract for a pitcher in MLB history with the Japanese superstar penning a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, in 2024 we could well see another Japanese star sign a major league contract in the form of Roki Sasaki.
Sasaki has spent his fledgling professional career playing in the top professional league in Japan- the Nippon Professional Baseball League, for the Chiba Lotte Marines where he made his debut back in 2021. During his High School career, Sasaki clocked a record for his fastball clocking a speed of 163 kilometers per hour.
During Saski’s first professional season in 2021 at just 19-years old, he boasted an ERA of 1.85 across 16 starts. Throughout his career to date, Sasaki holds objectively phenomenal numbers with an average ERA of 2.02, 11.4K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 6.0 H/9 over four seasons.
In terms of his pitching repertoire, Sasaki uses a three-pitch attack of his fastball, slider and splitter. Sasaki’s fastball velocity averages out around 96.8 in 2024, while his splitter ranks as one of the best in the game at around 88-90 MPH with a 57.1% whiff rate due to it looking so similar to his fastball until it falls rapidly. This whiff rate would have been second in MLB in 2024 behind only Fernando Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds. Finally, Sasaki’s slider averaged around 83-85 MPH in 2024 with a still-high whiff rate of 40.7%.
Sasaki first came to international prominence during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, where he formed the three-pronged Japanese attack that led them to the title alongside his fellow countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Could this tell us a lot about where he is going to end up this off-season? Bearing in mind both players last season signed for the Dodgers.
The first thing to remember in terms of Sasaki’s first MLB contract is that if he does sign with a franchise in 2024 due to his age of 23 (under 25), the Collective Bargaining Agreement means he will qualify as an international amateur free agent. He also has less than six seasons of service meaning he is subject to the international bonus pool money which restricts the amount he can be paid (similar to what Shohei Ohtani dealt with).
Sasaski will be eligible to sign for an MLB franchise after he is posted as an international free agent. Each MLB team has 45 days to negotiate a contract with a player after they are posted, if no agreement is reached in this time, the player returns to his previous league and cannot be posted again until the following offseason.
Sasaki’s contract will most likely fall under either the 2024 international signing period, which ends on Dec. 15 or in the 2025 period, which opens on Jan. 15. If Sasaki is posted before Dec. 2, he is only able to sign during the 2024 period as the 45-day span would expire before the ‘25 period begins. If he is posted between Dec. 2-15 he will be able to sign in either period but would only have until Dec.15 to negotiate during the 2024 period.
Recent attention to Sasaki believes that he will not sign until next season in the 2025 international free agent class. This is because waiting until the 2025 period means that Sasaki will get paid a much larger sum and his current team, the Chiba Lotte Marines will benefit too.
The Dodgers remain as once again the front-runners to land yet another Japanese star. This is also due to most teams having already used a lot of their international singing pools- the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers actually have zero dollars left to use. The Dodgers have the most money in this bracket remaining at $2.5 million, however, Sasaki waiting means he more than doubles his earning ability in just a few weeks.
This international bonus pool resets in 2025 with each franchise having between $5 million and $8 million to spend. Sasaki gets more money this way and the Lotte Marines too as they are entitled to 20% of his signing bonus, therefore it looks like we will have to wait a little longer for Roki Sasaki to sign to the MLB.
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