"I'm sure it will be like that" LAD president's intuition + command tower's love call...The heat for "Perfect Monster" is already hot
"I'm sure it will be like that" LAD president's intuition + command tower's love call...The heat for "Perfect Monster" is already hot
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LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sent a love call to Loki Sasaki in an interview with reporters ahead of Game 4 of the 2024 Major League Postseason New York Mets and National League Championship Series (NLCS) at Citi Field in Flushing, New York on the 18th (Korea time).메이저사이트
In 2022, he made his name known around the world by achieving a "perfect game" against the Orix Buffaloes. In particular, interest in Sasaki exploded as he pitched perfectly until the eighth inning of the game right after the perfect game. And Sasaki helped the Japanese national team's "complete victory" at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), proving that his performance so far was not a coincidence, and sought to advance to the Major League after the 2023 season.
However, in the process, Sasaki's image plummeted to the bottom. While Sasaki is hoping to advance to the Major League, Chiba Lotte did not allow Sasaki to challenge, and did not sign up for salary negotiations for the 2024 season until the departure of the spring camp was imminent. It is clear why Chiba Lotte did not allow Sasaki to challenge. The reason is that they have never played a full-time season, and they have not contributed to their team's performance, and players under the age of 25 do not have a large transfer fee.
As a result, Sasaki received tremendous criticism from the Japanese media, baseball officials, and fans, and he will play for Chiba Lotte again this year as he is paid the same salary as in the 2023 season. However, Sasaki's health remained intact this year. He was excluded from the first team roster twice, but had a hiatus of more than two months. Despite this, Sasaki posted an outstanding record of 10 wins, 5 losses, and 2.35 ERA in 18 appearances. The 10 wins were his first double-digit wins since his debut.
In particular, Sasaki gave up one run (one earned run) against the Rakuten Eagles in his last appearance in the regular season and secured Chiba Lotte's advance to the postseason for the 10th time since achieving the perfect game in 2022. As many as 10 teams, including LA Dodgers President Andrew Friedman, watched the game. "Sasaki is a great and talented pitcher," Friedman said. "Sasaki is a talented pitcher who has come to the U.S. in the past."
Sasaki started Game 1 of the Pacific League's Climax Series First Stage and pitched against the Nippon-Ham Fighters once again, striking out nine in eight innings without allowing even a single run. Then, when Chiba Lotte's postseason schedule ended, Matsumoto Naoki, the team's chief, unusually opened his mouth about Sasaki's future. "I have been having conversations with Sasaki (about the Major League) every year since I joined the team. This will not change this year, and I will talk about this," Matsumoto said.
Matsumoto then said, "The Rakuten match, the Climax Series, which determines the A-class (first to third place in the league), and it was really good pitching. Although I left the first team during the season, it is really hard to achieve a double-digit victory in the professional stage. I think he has done enough and hard work," adding, "Sasaki has a dream of becoming a major league player. I talked about it last year, but I want to proceed by talking about each one." Nothing has been decided yet, but in short, Sasaki's chances of entering the Major League this winter are very high.
In the meantime, Roberts was asked about Sasaki. If Sasaki is able to challenge the big leagues this winter, the Dodgers, which own Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, could be the most likely destination. First of all, in the case of "international amateur contracts," it has nothing to do with the club's capital power. Each club has a limited amount of money they can offer to Sasaki, so it is important which club captures Sasaki's heart best.
In other words, just as Ohtani heard "PPT" presentations from each club before signing with the Los Angeles Angels, Sasaki can listen to all the suggestions and choose a club that suits his taste. In that case, the Dodgers will definitely be the team that will benefit the most from its adaptation and performance in the U.S. President Friedman must have visited Japan with this in mind. And Roberts also sent a love call.
According to multiple media outlets including Japan's "Nikkan Sports," Roberts said from reporters, "I heard how many fans are watching in Japan. I was surprised. It's good for all of us." In the case of Game 5 of the Division Series between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, where Yamamoto took the mound and Yu Darvish took the mound, 7.5 million people watched it in the U.S., while 12.9 million people watched it in Japan.
Then came the question of Sasaki. Asked whether the Dodgers' increasing presence in Japan would benefit Sasaki's recruitment, Roberts said with a big smile, "I hope so. I'm sure."
No one knows yet whether he will try the major leagues or which clubs will contact Sasaki if he does. However, with Sasaki's chances of going to the big leagues increasing, the enthusiasm seems to be already heating up.
Reporter Park Seung-hwan ([email protected] )