Roki Sasaki to be posted to MLB: 23-year-old Japanese ace will hit market through international free agency

The Chiba Lotte Marines have not laid out a schedule for Sasaki's posting

Roki Sasaki, the young Japanese pitcher considered one of the best in the world, will finally be posted to MLB, his NPB team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, announced early Saturday morning. Though logistics still need to be worked out, that all but certainly means Sasaki will be playing in the majors in 2025.

"I am very grateful to the team for officially allowing me to post," Sasaki said in a statement. "There were many things that did not go well during my five years with the Marines, but I was able to get to this point by concentrating only on baseball, with the support of my teammates, staff, front office, and fans. I will do my best to work my way up from my minor contract to become the best player in the world, so that I will have no regrets in my one and only baseball career and live up to the expectations of everyone who has supported me."

Sasaki, 23, will hit the market as an international amateur free agent due to his age. That means he can only sign a minor-league contract, rather than a monster deal like Yoshinobu Yamamoto last winter. When, precisely, the Marines post him will determine whether he falls into the 2024 or 2025 IFA period. The former ends on Dec. 15; the latter opens on Jan. 15.

Across five seasons with the Marines, Sasaki was nothing short of dominant, compiling a 2.02 ERA in almost 415 innings. In 2022, he threw a 19-strikeout perfect game, then tossed another eight perfect innings in his next start. At the time, he was just 20 years old. He made waves to an international audience during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Injuries have limited him to 33 starts during the last two seasons, including just 18 in 2024, but his explosive talent is undeniable.

Here's what our R.J. Anderson wrote about Sasaki last year:

Sasaki has two massive offerings, an upper-90s rising fastball and a devastating splitter/forkball, and a shockingly good feel for throwing strikes based on his age and his stuff. He's struck out 34% of the batters he's faced as a professional, all the while walking just 5% of them. That 29% margin, for reference, would've ranked second in the majors in 2023, behind only Atlanta Braves flamethrower Spencer Strider. Sasaki does need to improve his durability. He was limited to 91 innings last year by an oblique injury, and to date he's cleared the century mark just once. Otherwise, Sasaki can rightly claim to already be one of the planet's most talented pitchers. 

Now, he's headed stateside and will join a pitching free agent class that includes Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, Max Fried and more. The Dodgers, home of the aforementioned Yamamoto and Ohtani, have long been considered strong suitors for Sasaki, but be sure that he'll be a hot commodity for every team. Mets executive David Stearns revealed earlier this week that he had taken a trip to Japan to scout Sasaki, calling him a "unique talent."

While Sasaki has been upfront about his desire to play in MLB, the Marines were reluctant to let him go, both from a baseball and financial decision. The posting team gets a percentage of the player's new contract, called a posting fee, dependent on the size. Had they waited until Sasaki was 25 and able to sign a full deal, that percentage would have brought in significantly more money. Here's how posting fees are determined:

• Contract worth less than $25 million: 20% of contract value
• Contract worth $25 million to $50 million: $5 million plus 17.5% of amount over $25 million
• Contract worth more than $50 million: $9.275 million plus 15% of amount over $50 million

Whereas Yamamoto signed for $325 million, Sasaki will be limited by teams' IFA pools, which max out at just over $7.5 million.