Roki Sasaki has been the center of attraction since he was included in the MLB rookie draft last year. Known for his devastating fastballs and high-velocity throws, Sasaki’s 102 MPH throw at the 2023 WBC was enough to keep the suitors on their toes; he was ahead of other rookies in the draft and gained the most attention. The next chapter started when teams began contending for him, and the Dodgers ultimately had the last laugh.

Sasaki’s journey in MLB started with media attention, and many questioned: is he the next big thing from Japan after Shohei Ohtani? Currently, he is the joint holder of the fastest pitch by a Japanese player in NPB alongside Ohtani. Over four seasons in NPB, Sasaki had a 29-15 record, a 2.10 ERA, and 505 strikeouts—these numbers, coming from a rookie in the MLB, explain the hype, especially as his first live batting practice had a lot of blue-uniformed people standing around, something Buck Showalter noted.

“Don’t you have something to do,” Showalter said in a recent interview, pointing out the other players standing around Sasaki. “You got that many people watching your first outing, your whole country and everybody in the States is watching you, you don’t think he feels the pressure to turn up the dial a little bit?”

While Roki Sasaki deserves all praise, will this hype be detrimental to his further success? Showalter certainly thinks so; going forward, risks are high that Sasaki could deviate with the attention coming his way all the time.

“You don’t need eight catchers in camp,” the manager continued roasting the Dodgers. “It’s about getting your Major League team ready. It’s not a tryout camp and if you don’t know who your prospects are by then, you’re probably down a bad road anyway.”

Impacting his focus at this stage will not help anyone because Sasaki is anyway adjusting to a new league in a new country, and all the added pressure will not help. Either way, the Japanese sensation seems ready to dominate the mound.

Roki Sasaki has all the right guns in his arsenal

Roki Sasaki is habitual to this attention back in Japan; it just got amplified and went global in MLB. He is all set to start on the opening day with Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Will he be able to live up to his hype with the Dodgers? Last year in the NPB, Sasaki played for the Chiba Lotte Marines and went 9-4 with a 2.02 ERA. Over 129 innings, he struck out 173, walked only 23, and allowed 7 HRs as a 20-year-old. His strikeout rate was better than those of Ohtani, Yu Darvish, and Masahiro Tanaka, his closest contemporaries at the same age, which shows what Sasaki is capable of doing for the Dodgers this year.

Well, it would still be too early to consider him as a star, which will only create pressure on him. He is still an MLB debutant and is going to face some top competition from some of the best hitters in the world in MLB. Media and fan attention will always be there with Roki Sasaki, considering he was already a known face before debuting in MLB. It will be his experience that will come in handy in dodging the attention.

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