than Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was 25 when he signed with the Dodgers for a record $325 million last offseason. While Yamamoto was the more decorated and durable pitcher in NPB, Sasaki is younger ...

Baseball fans have the same complaint after Japanese star pitcher Rōki Sasaki signed with the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers.

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.

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.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' newest headline starting pitcher believes he chose the place that can maximize his talent the most. During an introductory

Starting pitcher Rōki Sasaki announced his intention to sign ... as he was teammates with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the Team Japan roster that won the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Weeks later, luring Yoshinobu Yamamoto furthered their cause ... triumvirate of Japanese pitching luminaries by winning the Rōki Sasaki sweepstakes. In a possible ode to Ohtani, Sasaki broke ...

Along with Blake Snell – signed to a five-year, $182 million contract in December. And Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was posted one year ago after seven dominant seasons in Japan, signed a $325 million contract – and was the starting pitcher for four of the Dodgers’ 11 postseason wins.

Editor's Note: The story below originally ran in November, after Roki Sasaki's NPB team pledged to post the Japanese star pitcher. Sasaki announced Friday he was signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The splitter is on the rise in Major League Baseball, and the Dodgers are cornering the market. Splitters were thrown more often in 2024 than in any other season of the pitch tracking era, which goes back to 2008.

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.