Roki Sasaki is the next Japanese superstar ready to make his presence known in the MLB next season, and all 30 teams in the league have taken notice and are ready to attempt to successfully sign the 23-year-old from Bizen, USA. Japan, who will be an international free agent in the coming days.

Japan has a long tradition of MLB superstars over the past seven decades. Since 1964, when the San Francisco Giants recruited pitcher Masanori Murakami via Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Masataka Yoshida, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamato, MLB teams have benefited greatly from top baseball talent Japanese over the years. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers all won World Series titles thanks to the play of Matsuzaka, Matsui, Ohtani and Yamato, respectively.

And now there’s Sasaki, the 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher who had a dominant but short career in his time for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB) in Japan.

In 2019, he was selected in the first round from Ofunato High School in Iwate Prefecture. During his high school baseball career, Sasaki threw a fastball 101 mph. His fastball velocity broke the previous high school record of 99 mph set by Ohtani in 2012.

Career at NPB

During his four years with NPB, Sasaki compiled a 29-15 record with a 2.10 ERA and 505 strikeouts in 64 appearances. He was a two-time NPB All-Star in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, he finished 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA with 129 strikeouts in 18 starts for Chiba.

He marked the history of Japan and the world during the short time he spent there. On April 10, 2022, Sasaki pitched a perfect game as Chiba defeated the Orix Buffaloes 6-0. His win was also notable as he matched Koji Noda’s 19 strikeouts in a game that is an NPB record. Sasaki set a new NPB record with 13 consecutive takedowns. It was also a new world record as he surpassed the 10 consecutive takeouts in a game of Tom Seaver, Aaron Nola and Corbin Burnes. It was also the 16th^th perfect game in NPB history and the first since Hiromi Makihara’s in 1994.

Sasaki continued his perfect game by pitching eight perfect innings with 14 strikeouts against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on April 17. He was knocked out in the ninth inning after throwing 102 pitches to protect his arm. Sasaki threw 105 pitches in his previous start. Chiba would win the match 1-0 in 10 sets. He struck out 52 consecutive batters, which set an NPB and a world record. Sasaki surpassed former MLB pitcher Yusmeiro Petit, who struck out 46 consecutive batters in 2014.

World Baseball Classic

Sasaki was part of a formidable pitching staff for Team Japan during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. It featured Ohtani, Yamamoto, San Diego Padres pitchers Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui and member of the 2024 National League All-Star team and Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga. Japan won the WBC with a 3-2 victory over Team USA. They were 7-0 and outscored their opponents 56-18. Sasaki pitched a 10-2 win over the Czech Republic and a 6-5 win over Mexico. He was 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA with 11 strikeouts in two tournament appearances.

Pitch Strengths

Sasaki is a powerful thrower with a number of different throws at his disposal. On April 28, 2023, he threw four pitches at 100 mph, which tied Ohtani’s record as the fastest pitches ever thrown by an NPB pitcher. He also has an 88.2 mph splitter and 83.6 slider as well as a four-seam fastball that averages 96.8 mph per game. Sasaki is very versatile and can potentially be a very successful pitcher in MLB next season.