{"id":725,"date":"2024-10-26T16:59:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T16:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=725"},"modified":"2024-10-26T16:59:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T16:59:40","slug":"yankees-named-landing-spot-for-lebron-james-of-japanese-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=725","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Named Landing Spot for &#8216;LeBron James of Japanese Baseball&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Major League Baseball might not just have one generational talent on the market this winter in New York Yankees\u2018 star Juan Soto. Japanese superstar pitcher Roki Sasaki could be on the market if Chiba Lotte Marines post him.<\/p>\n<p>If Sasaki is posted, he\u2019d instantly become one of the hottest names on the market, if not the hottest, due to his low price. Jim Bowden of The Athletic highlighted that the Yankees have \u201ccommitted significant resources to scout him,\u201d naming them one of the landing spots for his services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is unclear if Roki Sasaki\u2019s team in Japan, the Chiba Lotte Marines, will allow him to leave for MLB this offseason, but with the Marines out of the NPB playoffs, we should know soon. If he is coming, he will be the most coveted international free agent as the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Red Sox and Diamondbacks all committed significant resources to scout him this month, including sending top executives to see him pitch,\u201d Bowden wrote on October 24.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much teams would be willing to offer Sasaki could depend on his medical reports as he didn\u2019t pitch for two months in the middle of the year because of arm troubles, which limited him to 18 games and 111 innings\u2026 Since Sasaki is under 25, he would be subject to international bonus pool restrictions; if he\u2019s posted\u00a0after this season, he\u2019d only be allowed to sign a minor-league contract, which is what Ohtani did with the\u00a0Angels in 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bowden predicted that Sasaki would land a minor league contract due to international signing rules that prohibit players under 25 years old from signing free agency deals.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Sasaki Compared to LeBron James<\/h2>\n<p>Sasaki has been among the elite of the elite in Japan. Some have called him the best pitching prospect in the world, while Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs compared him to Los Angeles Lakers star and arguably the best NBA player ever, LeBron James.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSasaki has been the LeBron James of Japanese baseball since his junior year, a known generational high school talent who has gone on to deliver on and perhaps exceed expectations at the highest level of Japanese baseball. Sasaki turns 23 in November and his feats of strength are already legendary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe touched 101 in high school and once threw nearly 500 pitches in an eight-day span, including a 12-inning, 194-pitch complete game during which he also hit the game-winning two-run homer,\u201d Longenhagen wrote on August 6. \u201cHe was the first pick in the 2019 NPB Draft by the Chiba Lotte Marines, had a sub-2.00 ERA in his 2021 rookie season, and then transcended the sport in 2022 when he threw 17 consecutive perfect innings that April.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whenever a player gets compared to James, it\u2019s clear how talented they must be. The New York Yankees must have a similar feeling, too, as they\u2019ve scouted him heavily.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Sasaki\u2019s Impressive Professional Career<\/h2>\n<p>Multiple Japanese players have come to Major League Baseball and found success. Sasaki is expected to be the next one.<\/p>\n<p>His stats during his young professional career certainly warrant that belief, as he\u2019s posted a 2.41 ERA in 414 2\/3 innings pitched.<\/p>\n<p>Factoring in his 524 strikeouts with his elite ERA, it\u2019s clear Sasaki could have a big future in Major League Baseball. If the New York Yankees are in the mix, they could be in a good position to sign him due to his contract not having an affect on Soto\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Jon Conahan covers the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com. Since 2019, his sports coverage has appeared at Sports Illustrated, oddschecker, ClutchPoints and Sportskeeda. More about Jon Conahan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Yankees were named a landing spot for Roki Sasaki, who was compared to Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yankees Named Landing Spot for &#039;LeBron James of Japanese Baseball&#039; - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=725\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yankees Named Landing Spot for &#039;LeBron James of Japanese Baseball&#039; - 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