![]() The second-biggest name in the annual draft, Yasunobu Okugawa, who pitched Ishikawa Prefecture's Seiryo High School to the final of this summer's national high school championship, went to the CL's Yakult Swallows. Neither of the two clubs that have steadfastly rejected using the posting system, the Central League's Yomiuri Giants and the Pacific League's SoftBank Hawks, named Sasaki as their top pick. ![]() "I dreamed I drew the winning lot, so I expected I would."įor those wishing to see Sasaki pitch in the majors, the Marines are a team that might conceivably post him. "I don't have any real impression of Ofunato, where he's from, but I'll be going that way soon," Iguchi said. In addition to the Fighters, three other Pacific League clubs named Sasaki as their top pick - the Marines, Seibu Lions and Rakuten Eagles. The Fighters, who developed both Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani before allowing them to move to the major leagues via the posting system before they were eligible to file for free agency, were the first club to state publicly that Sasaki would be their first choice. Prior to the draft, Sasaki held brief talks with scouts from every one of NPB's 12 clubs except the Nippon Ham Fighters. "I think it would be great if I could surpass the current Japanese record for (pitching) speed." I want to become the best pitcher in Japan and contribute to a championship team." "It seems that I'm now at the starting line. "I'd been wondering what team it would be, and now I'm relieved," Sasaki said in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. The pitcher, however, has said he is not yet thinking about a move to the majors. 2 press conference that he wants to go to a strong club, suggested he would be willing to play for whichever team won his rights on draft day.īecause of his high standing among overseas scouts, Sasaki has the option of not signing a Nippon Professional Baseball contract and instead turning pro with a major league club next June. Sasaki made front-page news this summer when his Ofunato High School manager controversially kept the right-hander out of Iwate Prefecture's championship game in order to protect his arm. He was the best player available and now it's incumbent on us to nurture his potential." "It's scary to think how far he might go. "He's an extraordinary pitcher," Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi said after drawing the winning lot. The 17-year-old Sasaki's fastball has been clocked in competition at 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) per hour and as high as 163 kph in a national team tryout camp. Pacific on Saturday), he’ll face the Buffaloes, the crew that knocked the Marines out within the semifinals of final 12 months’s playoffs.Ĭan Sasaki spin one other masterpiece? It hardly appears unattainable: He was already good in opposition to the Buffaloes as soon as, and Orix is a sub-.500 crew that has scored the fewest runs in Japan thus far this season, a median of simply 2.5 a sport.The Lotte Marines took hard-throwing high school pitcher Roki Sasaki in Japanese baseball's amateur draft Thursday after four teams selected the teen talent who has been on the radar of major league clubs. Assuming Sasaki begins Sunday, as anticipated (midnight Japanese time, 9 p.m. ![]() Regardless of Sasaki’s heroics, the Marines, based mostly in Chiba Metropolis about 25 miles east of Tokyo, are off to a sluggish begin and are underneath. heater, Sasaki throws a extremely touted splitter. He appeared in simply 11 video games in 2021, with a 4-2 file and a 1.84 E.R.A., earlier than a deliberate full load this 12 months. “It’s been 11 years however I can’t simply erase the agony and disappointment I felt on the time,” Sasaki told Kyodo News final month.Īfter success in highschool, he was handled carefully by the Marines, not pitching in any respect in 2020 whereas he did a energy coaching program. His father was killed within the 2011 tsunami, and his home was swept away. Sasaki grew up in Iwate Prefecture in Japan’s northeast. The file for Main League baseball is 46 by Yusmeiro Petit of the Giants, principally in aid, in 2014. ![]() “A file is a file, however it is very important get the win and for Roki to firmly keep within the crew’s pitching rotation for the 12 months,” Iguchi stated.Ĭounting an out he acquired on the finish of the beginning earlier than his perfecto, Sasaki has now retired 52 consecutive batters.
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