Chiba Lotte Marines to post Japanese star Roki Sasaki to MLB - ESPN

The Chiba Lotte Marines announced Saturday that they will begin the process of posting Roki Sasaki, the Japanese right-hander considered one of the most talented pitchers in the world, paving the way for the 23-year-old to join Major League Baseball in 2025.

The posting system is the method of transfer between MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball that makes him available to all 30 teams.

Sasaki, nicknamed The Monster of the Reiwa Era, throws a fastball that regularly reaches triple digits and complements it with a frontline split-fingered fastball and a slider.

Because of his age, Sasaki is considered an international amateur free agent and can only sign a minor league contract, which drastically limits how much teams can pay him — and how much Lotte reaps through the associated 20% posting fee. Players who are at least 25 years old with six years played in a foreign league can sign major league contracts when posted. Had he waited, Sasaki could have sought a deal for hundreds of millions of dollars, similar to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this year for 12 years and $325 million. Instead, Sasaki, who asked to be posted last year but was denied by the team, will take a similar path to Shohei Ohtani, the superstar who arrived in MLB at 23 and signed with the Los Angeles Angels for $2.3 million.

The timing of Sasaki's posting — which has yet to be set, sources said — will determine whether he falls into the 2024 or 2025 international amateur class. When a player is posted, he has a 45-day window to sign with a major league team. While Sasaki would join an organization on a minor league deal, a team can add him to its major league roster before the 2025 season begins.

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