Rocky Sasaki, ‘Demanding Early Entry Into MLB’, Contracts Annual Salary with Japan’s Chiba Lotte
A press conference will be held soon to explain the recent controversy.
Rocky Sasaki (22), who had a conflict with his team, Chiba Lotte Marines,
demanding early advancement to the American professional baseball major league,
was the last player among 12 Japanese professional baseball teams to sign a salary contract for 2024.
Chiba Lotte Club
On the 26th, the Chiba Lotte club announced,
“We have signed an annual salary contract with Sasaki for 2024.” 카지노사이트킹
Before the Chiba Lotte club announced the completion of Sasaki’s annual salary contract,
Japanese media reported, “Sasaki is the only unsigned player in Japanese professional baseball.
Although there is time until the start of spring camp (February 1),
there is a possibility of self-funded training.”
Chiba Lotte settled the controversy by signing a contract with Sasaki and announced,
“Sasaki will hold a press conference in a few days.”
It is reported that Sasaki requested Chiba Lotte to “allow him to enter the American professional baseball league” after the 2023 season, but was rejected.
Chibar Lotte manager Masato Yoshii, who entered the major league through Japan during his career,
opposed Sasaki’s early move to the major league, saying,
“It is not too late to return the favor to the current club and advance to the United States.”
Japanese Professional Baseball
The Japanese media and fans’ gaze towards Roki Sasaki is also not positive.
According to the U.S.-Japan professional baseball agreement,
Japanese players who try out for the major league before the age of 25 can only sign a ‘minor league contract.’
The maximum contract fee a player can receive is only $5.75 million (about KRW 7.7 billion),
and the transfer fee a player can receive from his former club is up to $1.44 million (about KRW 1.93 billion).
There were also Japanese fans who described Sasaki’s early entry into American professional baseball as ‘selfishness’.
However, the situation has become more complicated as reports have emerged recently that “there are circumstances in which Chiba Lotte verbally promised Sasaki that it would ‘help with early entry into the U.S.'”
Sasaki is already attracting the attention of major league clubs by throwing a fast ball that exceeds 160 kilometers per hour.
He even achieved his perfect game in 2022.