Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photos
It’s not often that a highly-touted pitcher transitions from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball at only 23 years old.
Right-hander Roki Sasaki is breaking from the more common and lucrative path – waiting to turn 25, after at least six NPB seasons, in order to enter major-league free agency — to post as an amateur free agent this offseason. In doing so, he’s drawn comparisons to Shohei Ohtani for their similar route to MLB.
Ohtani, too, was 23 years old when he fielded pitches from MLB teams across the country, in a range of markets.