The San Diego Padres are gaining momentum in the race to sign Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki, challenging the Los Angeles Dodgers' long-held position as favorites.
As the baseball world awaits the decision of Roki Sasaki, a recent development among MLB executives may shed more light on where the phenom will land. The Los Angeles Dodgers , originally favorites to sign the right-hander, are starting to have some serious competition for the right-handed pitcher. Dodgers fans had — and still have — plenty of reason to believe that Los Angeles is the favorite for Sasaki.
Two of his teammates on the World Baseball Classic winning Japanese National team — Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — both joined L.A. last season. Not to mention, the Dodgers are the reigning champions of the North American baseball world. However, the Padres appear to be gaining some traction among MLB executives.: 'While the Los Angeles Dodgers have been the heavy favorites to sign Sasaki for the past year, with some teams convinced he already made up his mind, the San Diego Padres have emerged as the new choice among executives.' Given some of the young phenom's personal preferences, this move is not completely out of left field.of The Athletic positively explained the nature of the relationship between Sasaki and current Padres pitcher Yu Darvish as 'a godfather-like figure among active Japanese players.' Lin also noted that Darvish is 'said to badly want the young right-hander as his teammate.' Wanting a Japanese star on his team is something that is not new for Darvish. Before the start of the 2024 season, Darvish expressed some frustration on the Dodgers signing Ohtani and Yamamoto. “Frankly speaking, it would have been nice if they came here, if they were my teammates,” Darvish said. “But I’m happy for them. They’re in a very good organization.” Although San Diego has 'a godfather-like' mentor to Sasaki, another non-Dodgers team that could make a play at the 23-year-old is the New York Yankees., ' favorite player growing up was Masahiro Tanaka, which would lead me to guess he was at least somewhat of a Yankees fa
ROKI SASAKI MLB SAN DIEGO PADRES LOS ANGELES DODGERS JAPANESE BASEBALL
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Roki Sasaki's MLB Pursuit: Exclusive Details EmergeRoki Sasaki's agent reveals the details of the Japanese pitching sensation's pursuit of an MLB contract. After attracting interest from two-thirds of MLB teams, Sasaki held in-person meetings and is now deciding on the next steps.
Read more »
Padres Pitching Target Roki Sasaki Officially Hits Free Agent MarketFree agent pitcher Roki Sasaki has officially been posted.
Read more »
Padres “fully expect” to sign Japanese pitching phenom Roki SasakiPadres manager Mike Shildt made a bold statement about his team's belief that San Diego will be signing Japanese ace Roki Sasaki.
Read more »
Roki Sasaki sweepstakes begin, and the Padres like their positionRight-hander from Japan has until 5 p.m. on Jan. 23 to sign with an MLB team
Read more »
San Diego Padres ‘fully expect' to sign Japanese pitching phenom Roki SasakiPadres manager Mike Shildt made a bold statement about his team's belief that San Diego will be signing Japanese ace Roki Sasaki.
Read more »
Roki Sasaki’s Agent Addresses Padres as Fit for Superstar Free AgentRoki Sasaki's agent discusses the Padres as a potential fit for the superstar free agent, fueling speculation about his future destination.
Read more »