As the Major League Baseball international signing period approaches, intrigue around 23-year-old Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki is only getting deeper. Of the reported 20 teams that courted him, Sasaki has given no clue as to which one he favors as the starting point for his MLB career.
Or has he?
As of Sunday, Sasaki was believed to have met in person with seven teams during a recent visit to Los Angeles. They were the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants. The list did not include the Los Angeles Angels.
Did Sasaki Just Give a Clue on Social Media?
Sasaki may have dropped a cryptic hint, however, that the Angels are on his radar. On Sunday, the baseball social media outlet Dugout Report revealed that Sasaki has followed the Angels’ veteran superstar Mike Trout on Instagram. Does Sasaki’s social media activity mean anything? Is it a hint that he would like to become teammates with Trout, himself a generational talent as Sasaki is expected to be, though from the hitting side.
“Mike Trout is the ONLY American baseball player â that hasnât played in the NPB or on Team Japan â who Roki Sasaki follows on Instagram. A good sign for the Angels?” the Dugout Report post asked. “Itâs January 12th and nothing is happening in baseball news, which is why this post exists.”
The NPB, Nippon Pro Baseball, is Japan’s equivalent of MLB.
So no one knows what Sasaki really thinks of the Angels. A “mystery team” outside of the seven who met with Sasaki has been widely reported to be pursuing the Chiba Lotte Marines ace whose fastball has been clocked at 102 mph. Was it the Angels?
Sasaki Made Secret Flight to Canada
Apparently not. On Monday morning, a new report by MLB insider journalists Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough of The Athletic finally revealed who that mystery team appears to be.
According to the report, last week when most American media believed he was at home in Japan contemplating his decison, Sasaki made an unannounced trip to Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he met with Blue Jays executives.
“Club officials last week hosted prized Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki in Toronto, sources briefed on the meetings told The Athletic,” Rosenthal and McCullough wrote. “Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins and Sasakiâs agent, Joel Wolfe, declined comment.”
The two reporters also note that the Blue Jays do not “seem an obvious fit for Sasaki, who is still maturing as a pitcher and thought to be heavily weighing the quality of a teamâs pitching development in his decision-making.” Toronto has a thin history of developing home-grown pitching.
It is true that Wolfe has stated that his young client values an organization’s pitching development program more than the size of its financial offer at this point. But in that case, the Pittsburgh Pirates would appear to be a more logical destination for Sasaki.
The Pirates have two young pitching stars, Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, already in their rotation, with more on the way. Five of the Pirates’ top 10 prospects are pitchers, including top-ranked Bubba Chandler, a two way player who converted to full-time pitching in 2023 and whose fastball consistently sits in the high 90s.
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