The Chicago Cubs were one of the lucky organizations to get a sit down meeting with Roki Sasaki, despite 20 teams reaching out. Recently his agent, Joel Wolfe provided some insight as to how those meetings looked, an indirect influence provided by Shota Imanaga, and the next steps in Sasaki’s decision making process.
Roki Sasaki has been in charge of the meetings with MLB teams
Per the request of Roki Sasaki, his agent and current MLB players did not attend the in-person meetings. This was a request made by Sasaki and all the meetings were two hours or less in length. Some teams did include videos of current players in their presentations, but otherwise the only other recruiting tactics utilized were books.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga indirectly influenced Roki Sasaki’s decision to come to Major League Baseball
At age 23, Roki Sasaki is considered an international free agent and has to sign a “minor league deal”, but he won’t officially agree to a deal with a club until the new signing period begins. Sasaki could have stuck it out in Japan until age 25, thus being able to then sign as a true free agent without restraint, but agent Joel Wolfe said that Shota Imanaga’s success last year influenced him to come to the United States.
“Seeing (Shota) Imanaga come over and dominate at such a level in the first half, I believe he realized … in order to take it to the next level he had to come here, play against the best players in the world every day and tap into all the resources that MLB teams have to help him become one of the best pitchers in MLB. That’s what he wants.”
Joel Wolfe on Roki Sasaki
Roki Sasaki is currently back in Japan pondering his next steps
Right now, Roki Sasaki is back in Japan with his family. He is using this time to think over his next steps, which may include narrowing the field, more meetings, and possibly visiting ballparks.
Sasaki is back in Japan and pondering next steps with his family, which could include narrowing the field, adding to the handful of meetings he’s already had — all the initial ones were less than two hours at Wasserman’s LA offices earlier this month — and visiting ballparks.
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) December 31, 2024
It will be interesting to see if the Cubs remain in contention or not. The success of Shota Imanaga, along with fellow former Japan player Seiya Suzuki, is certainly a factor that Sasaki will likely consider in his decision.
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