The Mets and Yankees scouted 22-year-old Japanese ace Roki Sasaki during his latest start, as reported by sources in Japan. The Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals were also in attendance at the game. It remains uncertain when Sasaki will be posted for MLB teams as he had requested his team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, to post him this past offseason, but the request was denied.
If Sasaki is posted before his 25th birthday, he would have to sign a minor league deal due to MLB rules prohibiting players under 25 with fewer than six professional seasons from signing anything else. The deal would be included in his signing team’s international bonus pool allotment. In contrast, Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017 at the age of 23 and only received $2.315 million due to the same rule.
Sasaki has been dominant in his first three professional seasons with the Marines, boasting a 1.90 ERA and 0.82 WHIP while striking out 395 batters in 303.2 innings over 51 games. His strikeout rate has increased from 9.4 per nine in his first season to 12.0 in 2022 and 13.4 in 2023, making him a highly sought after prospect by MLB teams. In comparison, Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not have as impressive stats and struck out fewer batters per nine innings in his first three professional seasons in Japan.
