MLB Rumors: Teams 'Planning' for Japanese SP Rōki Sasaki to Be Posted in 2024-25

With Shōta Imanaga establishing himself as an early National League Cy Young contender for the Chicago Cubs and Yoshinobu Yamamoto impressing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, teams around Major League Baseball could be looking for the next pitching star out of Japan.

And they may not have to wait long.

Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reported Sunday that Rōki Sasaki, a pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball league, could be making the move Stateside in the near future.

In fact, Janes noted "conversations with multiple executives, scouts and agents revealed a shared suspicion: MLB teams are planning for Sasaki to be posted this offseason, long before he would become an international free agent, even though neither Sasaki nor his team will confirm the plan."

It has reached the point that teams are traveling to Japan to scout the 22-year-old "regularly" and, as Janes noted, are "keeping international bonus space clear for him, just in case."

Notably, every team is expected to at least consider Sasaki because there are limits on how much a team will be able to pay for him compared to typical free agency in Major League Baseball.

Because he is under 25 years old, he would begin his major league career on a rookie salary. He will only be able to negotiate a signing bonus, and even that would be somewhat limited by international bonus pool restrictions.

What's more, his NPB team wouldn't receive the same type of compensation as usual when a player is posted for a jump to MLB.

While that figures to create more of an open market where the big-spending teams aren't the only ones legitimately interested in signing Sasaki, he will likely have his pick of suitors. With money not as much of a factor, that could give contenders who would give him an immediate opportunity to compete for a World Series something of an advantage in discussions.

Any team would be more of a contender if he was on the roster.

Across all levels to this point, Sasaki has a 1.94 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 456 strikeouts in 375.1 innings. He throws his fastball at 103 mph with a nasty splitter to keep hitters guessing, and that combination will surely still play against major league competition.

It's now something of a waiting game until Sasaki is the next pitching star to reach that level from Japan.