After losing out on Japanese superstar Roki Sasaki, the Chicago White Sox get a great consolation prize with signing this Cuban prospect.
The Chicago White Sox were not one of the teams to be selected to be in on the Roki Sasaki sweep stakes with MLB insider Jim Bowden stating in a tweet that:
“Teams that are still in on Roki Sasaski: Dodgers Padres Cubs Yankees Mets Rangers maybe Giants not the White Sox others could be added to list”
How the international posting process works
I could go into a whole diatribe of how the whole posting process for signing Japanese players works, in particular those players who don’t have the necessary service time and have reached the age of 25 to sign a free agent deal like we saw the Los Angeles Dodgers Japanese star starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto did, so I’ll link the rule here. I will also let MLB.com Jonathan Mayo let you know what Roki Sasaki is able to sign for:
“At age 23, Sasaki is subject to international bonus pool money restrictions, as he’s under 25 and has less than six seasons of service time in a foreign league recognized by MLB. So we won’t be seeing a Yamamoto type of deal here (12 years, $325 million). This is similar to when Ohtani came here in 2017, when he received a bonus of $2.3 million from the Angels.”
Sasaki would’ve been nice for the Chicago White Sox to have
In four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines Roki Sasaki was electric amassing a record for his career of 30-15 with an astounding low 2.02 ERA, while having a 11.4 career strikeout per nine rate, which allowed him to strikeout 524 batters in 414.2 innings pitched. For the 2024 NPB season, Sasaki was great as usual which is why he has a desire to come over to the Major Leagues and see if he can make here as his compatriots before him also did. Going 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts, in 111 innings pitched is the reason why Sasaki is being so sought after by most if not all Major League Teams.
Though the Chicago White Sox missed out on this phenom right-hander they got and excellent consolation prize the Chicago White Sox will sign Cuban right-handed pitcher 16-year-old Yobal Rodriguez once the international signing period opens according to a report by baseball/sports reporter Francys Romero. According to Romero:
“He is one of our dark horses in the 2024-25 international class. A 6’3″ pitcher with a fastball in the 91-94 MPH range, projects to reach 98 MPH in the future. He left Cuba in 2022.”
The Chicago White Sox have had success with Cuban prospects
The Chicago White Sox have had success in the past with their selection of prospects from Cuba with the most recent being José Abreu. In his nine years with the White Sox from 2014-2022 Abreu played in 1270 games, had 1445 hits, 303 doubles, 16 triples, 243 HRs, 863 RBI, with a slash line of .292/.354/.506 for an OPS and OPS+ of .860 and 135.
With the Chicago White Sox having recent success with signing players in the Cuban market Rodriguez would figure to be no different. It’s hard to project how Rodriguez will shape out given he is just 16 years old, but if he can maintain what Romero says he currently is and add on some weight and come into his own the White Sox will have a nice young pitching prospect on their hands.
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