Prized Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki says in an Instagram post he intends to sign with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. A 23-year-old right-hander whose fastball tops 100 mph, Sasaki will join fellow Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a move that many baseball executives have long expected.

Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki chose to sign with the Dodgers, he announced. That leaves the Padres to face an uncertain path in the months leading up to the 2025 season and to face the reality of their closest and most irksome rival going forward with yet another star player.

The San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays were said to be the other finalists still in pursuit of Sasaki, who has until next Thursday to finalize a contract.

In a way, the financial aspect is even rosier than that (from the Dodgers' perspective), as typically with a prospect of this caliber, a team might feel pressure to sign him to an early extension. With Sasaki, there's no such pressure: Any talk of an extension now would be viewed as circumventing the transfer rules. It's almost too good to be true.

The International Signing Period opened up on Wednesday and as teams lined up their future top prospects, Roki Sasaki remained unsigned. The 23-year-old Japane

Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, the hottest international free agent in baseball, is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he announced on social media Friday. The 23-year-old right-hander said he signed a minor-league deal. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki is signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 23-year-old announced Friday on Instagram. The details of the contract weren’t disclosed at the time of announcement.