Top Japanese free agent Roki Sasaki is considering visiting one or two teams before making his decision about which club he wants to join.
Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, shared on Monday that 20 MLB teams have submitted information to the 23-year-old right-hander, who recently listened to presentations along with his team in Los Angeles at Wasserman Media Group’s office.
Sasaki has returned to Japan and is now thinking about how to move forward, with support from his family and advisors, ahead of his signing window, which is from January 15 to 23. Wolfe mentioned that Sasaki might meet with one or two more teams and could visit one or two cities before narrowing his options.
“He is definitely driving the ship and calling the shots,” Wolfe said. “Roki is a very driven and intelligent and particular person.
I’ve learned a lot about why he wanted to come to MLB right now and so badly… 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.”
Sasaki has reportedly met with the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and San Francisco Giants. Wolfe said that Sasaki is likely to seriously consider the San Diego Padres.
He did not specify which teams Sasaki met with, but he clarified that teams were free to publicly discuss their meetings.
“We’ve had numerous conversations about team location, market size, team success, things like that,” Wolfe said. “He doesn’t seem to look at it in the typical way that other players do. He has the more long-term, global view of things. I believe Roki is also very interested in pitching development and how a team is going to help him get better both in the near future and over the course of his career.”
Wolfe explained that each meeting had a two-hour limit and included general managers, assistant general managers, managers, pitching coaches, and other staff members. Some teams even included players in video presentations, though players were not allowed to attend in person.
“He didn’t seem overly concerned about whether a team had Japanese players on their team or not, which in the past as I’ve represented Japanese players that was sometimes an issue,” Wolfe said.
Because Sasaki is under 25, he can only sign a minor league contract subject to the 2025 international signing bonus pools, which range from $7,555,500 to $5,146,200. Teams can trade part of their bonus allocation starting January 15.
Shohei Ohtani went through a similar system when he signed with the Los Angeles Angels for a $2,315,000 bonus before the 2018 season.
“When he first came over, it took him many years to get settled as a player and I’m sure personally as well,” Wolfe said. “Roki is by no means a finished product. He knows it and the team knows it. He’s incredibly talented. We all know that.”
Wolfe mentioned that some teams spent months preparing their presentations, which were delivered in various formats, including PowerPoint slides, short films, and even books. These presentations showcased the teams’ research on Sasaki’s personal and professional background.
Each team Sasaki met with was given an identical “homework assignment” by Wasserman.
“It was a great opportunity for the teams to really show what they specialize in,” Wolfe said. “It showed how they can analyze and communicate information with him and really showed where he was coming from in analyzing and creating his selection criteria in looking at different teams.”
Wolfe also explained that Sasaki decided to leave the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan’s Pacific League after playing alongside Ohtani, Yu Darvish, and Shota Imanaga, and seeing Imanaga succeed with the Chicago Cubs in 2024.
If Sasaki waits until after the 2026 season, he could sign a major league contract as a free agent, which could potentially be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“I’m speaking my own opinion,” Wolfe said. “He realized in order to take it to the next level he had to come here to play against the best players in the world every day and tap into all the resources that major league teams have to… help him become one of the best pitchers.”
