Roki Sasakithe 20-year-old Japanese pitcher, has attracted the eyes of fans around the world by pulling off one of the greatest feats in sports history over the past week, throwing 17 straight perfect innings in the Japan Professional Baseball League (NPB). His talent makes him attractive to the Major Leagues but, due to the economic rules that govern it, the best competition in baseball could wait at least another five years to acquire the Japanese phenomenon.
On April 10, Sasaki shot a perfect game with 19 strikeouts, the first in the NPB (Japan’s top league) since 1994. In his next start last Sunday, he threw eight more perfect innings. The Chiba Lotte Marines player has not allowed an opposing batter to reach base in an NPB record 52 consecutive plate appearances, six more than the MLB record (Yusmeiro Petit in 2014).
His fastball averaged more than 99.5 miles per hour (mph) according to CBS. For reference, the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole, who has arguably the best fastball in the majors, averaged 97.7 mph last year.
His exploits did not go unnoticed in the United States and the question was even generated in the media about how long it would take for this player to reach the Major Leagues. While Sasaki will first have to define if he intends to transfer his talent to Major League Baseball (MLB), if that is the case, according to the rules, NPB players cannot reach MLB free agency until who have nine years of professional experience or are ‘published’ by their respective teams; the latter route is more common and in that scenario MLB teams must pay the NPB team for the rights to the player.
However, the Japanese will also have to put into perspective how much the economic sphere matters to him. Ironically, the MLB rules governing international free agents discourage the best players in the world from joining the league as soon as possible, as the money an international player can earn once he or she reaches the MLB can vary drastically depending on the player. age.
Under the current agreement, players under the age of 25 (or who have less than six years of professional experience) are subject to the international bonus system. That policy greatly limits these players’ signing bonus potential and explains why Shohei Ohtani, a Japanese who had a historic performance last season as a pitcher and hitter, signed with Los Angeles Angels for less than the 30th pick in the draft despite being an out-and-out player.
At 23 years old, Shohei Ohtani accepted a rookie deal and according to Spotrac in his first four years in the league he made a total of $3.7 million. In 2021, he signed a two-year, $8.5 million deal with the Angels to avoid arbitration. The Angels paid a 20 million ‘publishing’ fee to Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Instead, at age 27, Seiya Suzuki signed a five-year, $85 million deal with the Cubs, who paid the Hiroshima Toyo Carp a $14.6 million release fee.
CBS Sports explains that everything is subject to change if MLB and the MLB Players Association agree to an international draft. But in the event that it is not achieved, Sasaki would have to decide if he wants to maximize his earnings and in that sense he would have to wait to make the jump until after celebrating his 25th birthday and accumulating six years of professional experience, which would put him on the path to debut in the majors in 2027.