Magic Johnson welcomes Rocky Sasaki to the Dodgers with a signed Lakers jersey

The Los Angeles Dodgers have landed one of the most exciting young players in baseball, 23-year-old Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki. He comes with a $6.5 million bonus under MLB’s international bonus pool rules, and if his record in Japan is any indication, Dodgers fans have a lot to look forward to. During his four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Nippon Professional Baseball, Sasaki posted an impressive 2.10 ERA and 0.89 WHIP and recorded 505 strikeouts in 394.2 innings.

To welcome him to LA, Sasaki met The Dodgers are co-owned by Magic Johnsonwho presented him with a signed Lakers jersey. Leave it to Magic to roll out the red carpet. He even raised the signature on Ks (formerly Twitter), writing, “Welcome to Los Angeles and the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Rocky Sasaki! It’s a great day to be a Dodger fan!” Johnson has been part of the Dodgers’ ownership group since 2012, and under his leadership the team won two World Series titles and had five 100+ win seasons.

The Dodgers didn’t just pounce on this signing, they made it clear that Sasaki was their top priority. They even traded outfielders Dylan Campbell and Arnaldo Lantigua to free up space in their international bonus pool. Now Sasaki joins an already loaded starting rotation with names like Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They’re going with a six-man rotation this year, which should make Sasaki’s transition to the MLB a little easier.

Not surprisingly, there was a bidding war for Sasaki. He was ranked as the No. 3 free agent this offseason, behind only Juan Soto and Corbin Burns, and more than 20 teams were interested. The San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Yankees all went all out, but Sasaki chose the Dodgers, likely because of their strong connection to Japan and the recent signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

In 2022, Sasaki became the youngest pitcher in NPB history to throw a perfect game, striking out 13 batters, an NPB record by the way. And if that wasn’t enough, he came back in his next start and pitched eight more perfect innings. He dealt with some injuries last season (shoulder inflammation and an oblique problem) but still managed to put up big numbers, including a 2.35 ERA, 1.036 WHIP and 129 strikeouts in just 111 innings.

This looks like another big win for the Dodgers. They were completely focused on strengthening their pitching, and while injuries caused some setbacks last year, they still managed to bring home their eighth championship. And with Sasaki, everyone is in the hunt for championship number nine.