Roki Sasaki announced on Friday that he’ll join the Dodgers, doing so in an Instagram post. The Dodgers signed the 23-year-old pitcher from Japan for a reported $6.5 million signing bonus.
A pair of minor league outfielders were traded for the Dodgers to add international bonus pool space to bolster their offer for Sasaki. Dylan Campbell was traded to the Phillies, and Arnaldo Lantigua was sent to the Reds.
While the Dodgers have not yet officially announced their signing of Sasaki, co-owner Magic Johnson tweeted out a welcome to the pitcher, including pictures of him and Sasaki with a signed Lakers number 32 jersey.
Welcome to Los Angeles and the World Champion Los Angeles @Dodgers Roki Sasaki! It’s a great day to be a Dodger fan! pic.twitter.com/UtExlQEmP0
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 18, 2025
Reaction & analysis of Sasaki
Kiley McDaniel at ESPN compared Sasaki to Paul Skenes, who won National League Rookie of the Year and finished third in Cy Young Award voting in 2024:
Sasaki will be on my top 100 prospects list, though, both because he’s signed as part of the international bonus pools, but he’s also still a prospect who needs development the same way Skenes did when he was in the upper minors and learned a new knockout pitch.
Eno Sarris at The Athletic looked at Sasaki’s stuff and performance. “All in all, his combination of strengths and weaknesses presents a couple of possible comparable pitchers. Sasaki might be a high-velocity Kodai Senga, or he may present as a peak version of Kevin Gausman.”
After signing Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and now Sasaki in the last 14 months, the Dodgers have established themselves as the destination for Japanese stars, Rowan Kavner wrote at Fox Sports.
“When the team held its second meeting with Sasaki, star players were in attendance, underscoring the club’s message as being the premier destination in Major League Baseball,” wrote Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times. “And now, Sasaki will have the chance to immediately compete for a World Series, becoming an instant factor in their title defense.”
Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic said of the Dodgers, “They’re getting the baseball equivalent of an uncut diamond for a minimal price. They need to handle it with the utmost care.”
Sasaki chose the Dodgers to prioritize his development, argued Dylan Hernández at the Los Angeles Times:
Being the most talented pitcher from his country doesn’t mean Sasaki is the best, only that he has a chance to be the best. Sasaki is aware of that, and he presumably chose to sign with the Dodgers because he figured they could help him realize his declared ambition of becoming the best player in the world.
David Adler at MLB.com looked closely at Sasaki’s fastball, splitter, and slider.