Within the next three weeks, Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki will know where he is beginning his major-league career.
Sasaki’s process for determining which team he will join during the international signing period remains ongoing. The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher must sign between Jan. 15, when the signing period starts, and Jan. 23, when his posting window ends. Sasaki’s agent Joel Wolfe, speaking with media on a Zoom call Monday night to provide an update on the process, does not anticipate the pitcher will be ready to sign on the first day.
Sasaki is currently in Japan after meeting with some teams in person and is determining the next steps. That could include meeting with one or two additional teams, or narrowing the field, which Wolfe believes might be more likely, with a determination then if Sasaki wants to visit a city or two as he finalizes his decision. Teams were not instructed to avoid speaking about the process, Wolfe said.
“He is definitely driving the ship and calling the shots,” Wolfe said. “Roki is a very driven and intelligent and particular person.”
Wolfe met with Sasaki in Los Angeles following the MLB winter meetings in early December to discuss how to handle the process. Ultimately, 20 teams submitted a presentation for Sasaki, which featured PowerPoints, short films and even books.
“I know Roki and his family appreciate the amount of time that was spent in that preparation by all the teams, all the people that work at the teams and spent countless hours,” Wolfe said. “Some of the teams had obviously been working on it for months leading up to the posting date in the hopes that he would post without the knowledge that would happen, and literally within a couple of days after he posted, they put the finishing touches on it, and it arrived by our office, either electronically or physically.
“One thing that was very important to Roki was he wanted to make sure that everything was a fair and level playing field, both for his own decision-making process and for the teams.”
Although Wolfe wouldn’t provide a specific number, Sasaki met with some of the interested teams in person at the Los Angeles office of the Wasserman talent management company. The Cubs were among those teams, a source confirmed to the Tribune. Sasaki set parameters for all teams: meetings did not exceed two hours, and no players from the respective teams were allowed to be part of the presentation. He also gave each team the same homework assignment ahead of meeting in person. Wolfe didn’t want to delve into the details but said its purpose was to show Sasaki how they can analyze and communicate information with him.
“It really showed where he was coming from in analyzing and creating his selection criteria in looking at different teams,” Wolfe said.
As Sasaki continues to evaluate what he wants from an organization, he is taking a global view when it comes to team location, market and organizational success, Wolfe said, and he is very interested in pitching development and how a team will help him get better in the short and long term. Sasaki also does not seem overly concerned about whether Japanese players have been on the team.
A big motivation for Sasaki in leaving Japan is the desire to challenge himself as he goes from Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB. Wolfe believes that following Sasaki’s experience at the World Baseball Classic, spending time around Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish, and then seeing Shota Imanaga immediately dominate for the Cubs in the first half this past year, the right-hander wants to tap into all the resources big-league teams possess to help him become one of the best pitchers in the majors.
“Roki is by no means a finished product,” Wolfe said. “He knows it, and the teams know it. He’s incredibly talented. We all know that, but he is a guy that wants to be great. He’s not coming here just to be rich or to get a huge contract. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greatest ever.”