Japanese star Roki Sasaki signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he announced on Instagram. The 23-year-old right-hander with a sizzling fastball and deadly splitter joins Samurai Japan teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto with the World Series champion Dodgers.

MLB teams have coveted Roki Sasaki since he broke Shohei Ohtani's Japanese high school record by reaching 101 mph with his fastball as a 17-year-old in 2019, part of a 194-pitch, 12-inning, 21-strikeout complete game in the national summer Koshien tournament.

Sasaki, nicknamed in Japan as "the Monster of the Reiwa Era," struck out 11 batters in 7 and ⅔ innings with a 3.52 ERA during the 2023 WBC. In Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, he struck out 129 hitters in 111 regular-season innings for the Marines in the 2024 season.

clearing the path for the hard-throwing 23-year-old to transfer from Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB. Sasaki will be subject to international amateur free-agent restrictions, making him ...

The Roki Sasaki sweepstakes are rounding third base. The Japanese phenom has reportedly narrowed down his list of teams to three -- the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays, according to an ESPN report -- and will be making his decision in the coming days,

Shohei Ohtani reportedly played a large role in starting pitcher Rōki Sasaki signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ohtani was part of a contingent of

The night before Roki Sasaki was to be introduced at Dodger Stadium, the Japanese pitcher met LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and others at his first Lakers game.

At his age and talent level, Sasaki folds in perfectly for a Dodgers club that was already planning on running a six-man rotation.

The prized righty pitcher was one of the most sought-after international free agents in recent memory and picked the Dodgers over a considerable list of other suitors.

Sasaki was always going to end up underpaid relative to his ability. (That is, in fact, why he ranked lower on my free-agent rankings, based largely on expected average annual value.) MLB's agreement with Nippon Professional Baseball requires players to ...

3:40pm: Per the Associated Press, Ogasawara gets $3.5MM over the next two years. That’ll be a $1.5MM salary this year and $2MM next year. That leads to a posting fee of $700K. Ogasawara, 27 ...

Roki Sasaki said he looks forward to starting his Major League Baseball career in Los Angeles after signing a deal with the Dodgers on Wednesday that will see him team up with fellow Japanese players Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.