Sasaki Rocky (Chiba Lotte) was selected as a pitching prospect to pay attention to by senior officials of major league clubs. It’s still too early to discuss entering the major leagues, but it’s already like that. This is the part where you can see what the eyes of ‘Perfect Man’ are watching in the United States. 카지노
MLB.com recently conducted an anonymous vote for club officials in departments related to prospect development, such as major league team general managers, farm directors, scouting directors, and analysts. On the 11th (Korean time), the voting results for the prospect with the best ‘tool’, such as the best batter prospect and the best pitching prospect, were revealed. Sasaki received a vote in the Best Pitching Prospect category.
He did not get as many votes as he did in the rankings, but the fact that he was picked as a prospect among major league officials while playing in Japanese professional baseball, not American baseball, shows his recognition.
MLB.com noted Sasaki, saying, “(From the results of this poll) the most interesting name may be Sasaki, a Japanese right-handed pitcher who dominated Chiba Lotte in 2022 but is not yet qualified to sign with a major league team.”
Sasaki has been a promising prospect driven by major league scouts since the 2019 Under-18 Youth Baseball World Cup, before he turned pro. It became a hot topic with a lot of stories, including the highest fastball speed of 163km per hour, and the story of loyalty that went to a public school rather than a private school because I wanted to go to the Koshien competition with my middle school friends.
However, he had to distance himself from the United States for a while as he chose the Japanese professional baseball draft rather than a minor league contract. Sasaki spent 2020, his first year as a professional, as a preparation period, and from 2021, he began to adapt to the profession in earnest. Last year, he became the youngest player in Japanese professional baseball to achieve a perfect game, drawing worldwide attention.
His season performance was 20 games, 9 wins, 4 losses, an earned run average of 2.02. He pitched 129⅓ innings, striking out a whopping 173. Based on his overwhelming speed and strikeout ability, he was even selected for the Japanese national team for the WBC (World Baseball Classic) to be held in March. This competition is expected to be a ‘preview showcase’.
Meanwhile, Andrew Painter (Philadelphia) took first place in the pitching prospect vote. Grayson Rodriguez (Baltimore), Yuri Pérez (Miami), and Bobby Miller (Dodgers) followed. Taj Bradley (Tampa Bay), Hunter Brown (Houston), and Kyle Harrison (San Francisco) took the ‘Other Tables’ with Sasaki.