Japanese pitching sensation has asked the Chiba Lotte Marines to make him available to MLB teams via the posting system this winter, according to Sponichi Annex ( from Yahoo Japan). Nippon Profe sional Baseball teams have until December 15 to post players for po sible moves to Major League Baseball in advance of the 2024 season, and this brief timeline alone makes it highly unlikely that the Marines will grant Sasakis request. In the broader picture, it is quite rare for Japanese players to ask to be posted so early in their careers, as the 22-year-old Sasaki has only played three seasons in NPB. As per MLBs posting rules, players must be at least 25 years and have at least six pro seasons under their belt in order to receive anything more than a minor league contract. Big league clubs could also only pay such players money from their international bonus pools, and with this years international signing window yet to open on January 15, teams have long since committed the bulk of their pool money to prospects. faced these restrictions when he came to the majors at age 23, and thus received only a minors deal from the Angels and a $2.3MM signing bonus. profiled Sasaki last month, noting that Sasakis contract with the Marines is thought to have an escape clause that would allow the righty to leave for the majors at any time. Ohtani enacted such a clause in 2017, though Ohtani had played five seasons John Stockton Jersey with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The Sponichi article didnt give any mention about such a contractual opt-out, though the unusual timing of Sasakis request perhaps does indicate that he has some leverage to take this rather immediate plunge into the posting system. Castillo/Harris wrote that the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants have all intensely scouted Sasaki in Japan, and at one point, the Dodgers thought that Sasaki would be available as early as this offseason. Sasaki wouldnt achieve full free agency until he has nine seasons of service time, and in general, NPB teams dont post players early until theyre a year or two away from that nine-season threshold. For instance, played seven seasons with the Orix Buffaloes before the Buffaloes agreed to post the star righty this winter, and the 25-year-old Yamamoto to command a contract well north of $200MM. Yamamotos combination of youth and skill has all but guaranteed a huge contract, yet even his number could pale in comparison to what Sasaki might receive. Though he would seemingly be limited to a minor league deal at first and would have to wait at least a few seasons into an MLB career to sign an extension without drawing attention from the league office, that might be a risk Sasaki is willing to take given the potential huge payoff down the road. In the interim, he wont be lacking in compensation, since a jump to the majors would surely boost his endorsement appeal. Over 283 2/3 career innings with the Marines, Sasaki has a 2.00 ERA, 34.4% strikeout rate, and 5.12% walk rate, and these video-game numbers are only part of Sasakis burgeoning legend. His fastball routinely sits in the upper-90s and has topped out at 102.5mph, and his forkball is arguably an even deadlier pitch. Sasakis pitched well for Japans gold medal-winning team at the 2023 World Baseball Cla sic, and he has two NPB All-Star appearances on his resume. Most famously, Sasaki came within an inning of back-to-back perfect games he to sed a perfecto against the Buffaloes in April 2022 that saw him record 13 straight strikeouts amidst an NPB-record 19 Ks in his masterpiece of a start. Incredibly, Sasaki followed that up with eight perfect innings in his next outing before being pulled before the start of the ninth due to pitch count reasons (102 pitches). The Marines desire to preserve Sasakis arm and overall health has been a main storyline of his career. He was the first overall pick of the 2019 NPB draft, yet he didnt make his debut with Chiba until May 2021, as the team wanted to ease his development into pro ball. Sasaki mi sed about six weeks this season due to an oblique strain, limiting him to 91 innings for the 2023 campaign. As MLBs Dai Takegami Podziewski noted in his last installment of the feature, durability is basically the last question Sasaki has to really answer about his long-term potential, and the rightys 64, 203-pound frame would suggest that he is perhaps built to hold up under the larger workloads faced by Major League pitchers. While it remains to be seen if Sasaki will actually be able to enter the 2023-24 free agent market, it would obviously be a game changer in a winter that already has a lot of high-end starters still on the board. If nothing else, Sasakis request might well be setting a stage for a posting next winter, when he could join another loaded pitching cla s that might include , , , , , , , and po sibly even if the Yankees dont enact a contract clause preventing Cole from opting out. Royce O'Neale Jersey