Sasaki and Kim Hye-sung are Dodgers

Sasaki and Kim Hye-sung are Dodgers

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Japanese monster pitcher Rocky Sasaki (23), who announced his entry into the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB), will head to the Los Angeles Dodgers.메이저놀이터

Sasaki said on his social media on the 18th (Korea time), "I signed a minor contract with the Dodgers. It was a very difficult decision, but I will do my best to make the right decision when I look back after my baseball career." With Sasaki joining the Dodgers, it is expected that the first to third starters of the Japanese national team will all play for a major league team. Last year, the Dodgers paid more than $1 billion (about 1.4585 trillion won) to recruit Shohei Ohtani (31), a "complexity of pitching," and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (27), a "Japanese ace." Kim Hye-sung (26) of South Korea also joined the Dodgers on the 4th through a posting contract.

Sasaki, which announced its entry into the U.S. through the posting system on April 11, was only allowed to sign a minor league contract as an international amateur, not as a free agent. As down payment was limited to 5.75 million U.S. dollars, many Major League teams were fiercely competing to recruit Sasaki at a low price. He is said to have had reverse (逆) interviews or brought presentation materials equivalent to those of a short film. The San Diego Padres and the Toronto Blue Jays were initially considered leading transfer teams, but the winner was the Dodgers.
Sasaki is a fastball pitcher who made his debut in the Japanese pro league in 2020 and uses up to 165 kilometers of fastballs as his main weapon. He became the youngest player in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) to play a perfect game, contributing to his team's victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. However, due to frequent injuries, he only managed 394 and two thirds of innings in his four seasons as a pro.