The initial list of major league teams expressing interest in Japanese right-hander Ruki Sasaki has grown to 20, his agent, Joel Wolff of the Wasserman Group, said Monday.
Sasaki, an uber-talented young starting pitcher, will join one of those teams sometime in the second half of January and is currently back home in Japan, his highly-scrutinized recruitment. Considering the second stage of the process.
Wolff didn’t provide many details during a conference call with the media, just saying that Sasaki met with “a few sets of teams”. In these last few weeks and will make their decision sometime between January 15, when the new international signing period opens, and January 23, when Sasaki’s posting window closes.
Market size, live dynamics and even a winning tradition will not be a priority.
“He doesn’t look at it the normal way other players do,” Wolff said. “He has a more long-term, global view of things. I’m sure he’s also very interested in rookie pitching development and how a team can help him improve in the near future and throughout his career. “He didn’t seem too concerned about whether a team had Japanese players in the team, which in the past, when I represented Japanese players, was never a topic of discussion.”
At 23 years old, Sasaki is already one of the best pitchers in the world, with a triple-digit fastball and devastating splitter. Playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball over the past four seasons, Sasaki posted a 2.10 ERA with 505 strikeouts and only 88 walks in 394⅔ innings. Because he would be classified as an international amateur — meaning he would pay a team the value of its international bonus pool and essentially sign a minor league contract, unless He will not be allowed to become a traditional free agent until he has six years of major league service time. A bid was expected for his services.
Wolff tested that at the start of Sasaki’s 45-day posting window on December 15, shortly after sending a letter to each team asking each club to send information if it was interested. Within days, recruiting pitches flooded his offices.
“While the quality and uniqueness varied, it was really something,” Wolfe said. “The level of preparation, the videos — I mean, it was like the Rookie Film Festival. There were very in-depth PowerPoint presentations, short films. Some of the teams made original books. They had people who were clearly Rookie. had spent hundreds of hours researching and his personal background, his professional background.”
has been recorded in various reports. Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, CHICAGO CHILDREN And San Francisco Giants Of the teams that were given initial meetings, none of them have been confirmed by Sasaki’s camp. And while there’s been plenty of speculation that bids for Sasaki could come down to the Dodgers and Padres, Wolff said his client wants everyone to operate on a “level playing field,” which Specific demands for these initial meetings emerged from: That they are all finished within two hours and at Wasserman’s LA offices. Sasaki emphasized that current players do not participate, although some have sent their pitches on video.
“I think the teams that meet with him will tell you that he’s engaged, he asks questions — and he gives each team what he calls a homework assignment,” Wolfe said. The team he was going to meet,” Wolff said. “And I think it was a great opportunity for the teams to really show off what they’re good at. Each team got the same assignment, without giving the exact details of what that assignment was, and it gave them Being able to show how he can analyze and share information with him and really show where he’s coming from in making his selection criteria and analysis in looking at teams.”
Sasaki’s next step has not been fully formed. This may involve tackling a handful of extra meetings or, more likely, speeding up his list. Some cities may also be visited as part of his final decision-making process.
At this point, Wolff said, Sasaki is not expected to choose a team when the new international signing period begins on Jan. 15. Although Wolf didn’t specifically note it, using the extra eight days would allow teams to trade for an additional international bonus pool. The amount will essentially serve as Sasaki’s signing bonus. International bonus pools for 2025 range from about $5.1 million to $7.5 million, but teams can trade up to an additional 60%.
Had Sasaki waited another two years to turn 25, he could have signed a nine-figure contract instead. Yoshinobu Yamamoto Acquired from the Dodgers last offseason. Instead, he followed in his footsteps Shohei Ohtanian international amateur when he joined. Los Angeles Angels In December 2017. Wolf believes Ohtani is around and U Darvish And watching during the World Baseball Classic in 2023 Shota Imanga Dominating with the Cubs as a rookie in 2024 forced Sasaki to challenge himself as soon as possible.
The sooner he can face the best hitters in the world and utilize the league’s vast resources, the better he will be.
“Rookie is by no means a finished product,” Wolff said. “He knows it, and teams know it. He’s incredibly talented; we all know that. But he’s a guy who wants to be great. He’s not just here to get rich or get a big contract. He wants to be one of the greatest ever, and he knows he has to challenge himself.”