I love R. Sasaki's personality and talent. I expect to watch his playing in Mlb soon but I undsd 2 or 3 yrs to be waited. Untill then I need to find any Npb news on the internet.
Ohtani sold me baseball two years ago. I've finally learned the basics of baseball after all these years! Now I'm learning about minor league players and NPB players. Such a fun sport
I'm Dominican and almost 50 years old man, who is only is interested in two sports, Baseball and horse races, and i got to say that i am really impressed about the Japanese baseball, they show not only talent but knowledge, this is one of the best team I've ever seen in my whole life, i couldn't take off my eyes from Murakami, that guy has a outstanding swing, the guy really knows what he is doing. 20 million dollars to get him to the States is a bargain.
You should also follow the Japanese horse racing scene then. Make sure to check out the 2023 Dubai World Cup on 25 March. 15 horses from Japan are participating.
Sasaki's first start in the WBC was on March 11, the 12th anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, in which both Sasaki's father and grandparents lost their lives.
Interestingly, only Koreans were happy about the deaths of the earthquake victims, including his family. They held up banners celebrating the Great East Japan Earthquake during their football match against Japan. At least Koreans must have been happy about the death of Sasaki's family.
God bless all lost souls God bless Japan n it's people for surviving the tragic tsunami earthquake monsters with such a discipline and the positive spirit. ❤❤
Can’t wait to see these two in MLB. People think of baseball as the old white guy sport but the reality is the best league in the world is incredibly diverse. Filled with talent from the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, DR, PR, Venezuela, Cuba, Korea, Curaçao etc, it’s among the most diverse sporting leagues on planet earth.
As a baseball fan, it was really cool to be able to see some of Japan's top talent. They've always had incredible discipline and finesse, but now they have serious power pitchers and sluggers. They will get better and I predict more American players will play in the future, meaning this rivalry should produce more incredible drama.
@@ciello___8307 We could not match up with the big boys without small ball even with Matsui. That clearly changed in this tournament. And that is huge.
Roki Sasaki, He lost his father and grandparents at March 11, 2011, when great earthquake and tidal wave attacked Japan. And He pitched the day March 11, 2023, vs Czech Republic, He overcame the past, with hope.
The rule that foreign players under 25 yrs old can only get rookie contracts should be eliminated Making players like them wait until they are 25 y’all want to see roki and murakami right away,right?
japan’s professional league the NPB made that rule in collaboration with the MLB. japan didn’t want the US poaching all their stars away right after high school or a few years after it, and the MLBPA didn’t want japanese players making tens of millions of dollars right away while they were still struggling to make and stay in the majors, making league minimum before going through arbitration. imagine a 21-yo japanese player making 100M with the ability to choose his own team while a 21-yo american player is still stuck in the minor leagues of the team he was drafted by, hoping to get called up and make league minimum for 3 years, then arbitration for the next 3 … with no say if he was traded and making less money than his japanese counterpart and then FINALLY reaching free agency at around 29 or 30.
Last year’s young triple crown winner Murakami has a bright future ahead of him. However, even he was shocked when he saw Shohei Ohtani hitting the upper deck one after another during batting practice after joining WBC, and said “I couldn’t say anything” .
With 162 already Tuff to bring in something like Champions League. And also i wouldnt Do IT in WS. I think something like Champions league would be more realistic But how i said. Its already so many games
Not even huge payday. The average MLB player earns just over $4 million a year. Masahiro Tanaka is the highest paid player in Japan and only makes $6.9 million a year, which is only the 221st highest salary in MLB. Even if the huge contracts arent quite there, I'm sure the top players will easily be pulling $20 million or more a year - and probably a lot more.
Just out of interest, when Sasaki threw a perfect game for the Lotte Marines last year (with an 18-year-old catcher!) he struck out 13 consecutive batters! And that included the Red Sox's Yoshida, so the opposition was not weak. Regarding Murakami, he's bigger, stronger and hits the ball further than Hideki Matsui did at that that age. His 56 HRs last season came in 141 games, which works out to 65 over a 162 game season. Not saying he's going to turn up in the Majors and hits 65 HRs a season, but I have no doubt that he will be able to post some serious numbers. Just hope he doesn't go to the Angels.
Sasaki and Murakami should be in the bigs in 3-4 years. But just like Masataka Yoshida made his statement in the WBC by leading the tournament in RBIs, there will be few more solid Japanese players making their way (I could think of Yamamoto, Okamoto, Kondoh, Shuto making on the MLB roster).
the craziest part is sasaki isn't even the best pitcher in japan under 25 years old... The best is yoshinobu yamamoto who came in for relief after sasaki against mexico Yamamoto over the past 2 seasons has had a 1.39 ERA and a 1.60 ERA with 193 innings in both seasons. Back to back MVP, Sawamura (NPB cy young award), and triple crown finishes. This season he will be going for the 3-peat which would be the first time in history, and he is currently 24 years old. Odds are he will win all 3 again then he will be 25 and will go to the MLB and probably get a max contract. I kinda hope he goes to the angels just so we can see him and ohtani on the same team, or he just signs to wherever ohtani might go. Tbh we just need 1 team to sign all of this japanese talent somehow lmao. Imagine a team with murakami, ohtani, sasaki, and yamamoto? The bank is broken but so are the other teams lmao
@@shin29534 oh he 100% has more potential than yamamoto. But atm yamamoto is still a bit better, I wish we could've seen yamamoto start again USA instead of having to come in for relief against mexico
Murakami is special but he was underwhelming at the start of wbc until he redeemed himself during the semi and final. Needs more confidence and will be great.
Given the results of the WBC and the fact that that they are talking about how good the Japanese players are, I would say the NPB is just as tough as the MLB
Not really when all the US pitchers were 35+ years old even the Japanese know that. Your lost and crazy in the head to be honest to even say that cuz everyone knows the US will never ever send their best pitchers to the WBC those owners didn’t even want to send any good position players until this year
The Latin countries players all want to play in MLB ...🇯🇵.Japan has their own League -NPB & It's the 2nd Best League in the World ..All the players make Good Money & Have loyal Followings
in one of the post game interviews, he mentioned how he is inspired by Ohtani and wants to do what he's doing and try to do better, obviously not pitching but he wants to be able to have a similar effect on baseball like him, he's already considered a "baseball god" in Japan courtesy of his name, and I think after he finishes his 3 season contract with the swallows he'll be 25/26 and open to playing for the highest bidder in the MLB, I feel like some of the Japanese talents have the perfect strategy thanks to the amount of eyes Ohtani has brought to Japanese baseball, where they play in the NPB work hard at developing getting all the fundamentals worked on with years of experience at the professional level, then make the jump to the MLB where they're already on par if not better than most of the talent in the MLB currently there only difference is the discipline is better. Yoshida has already started pre season with the Red Sox and I'm sure Murakami will come once his contract with the Swallows ends, though I'm not sure what Sasaki will do, from the outside looking in he seems to be more quiet and I'm not sure whether he would want to leave Japan for the bright lights of American baseball, but i could be misreading it and maybe he'll be jumping at the opportunity to become a star in the US.
Dear Americans, coincidentally Dodgers' Otani Blue Jays Kikuchi and sasaki All three are from Iwate Prefecture. Iwate is a prefecture in the north of Japan, and is a region with many serious people.
Time to make an expansion team in Hawaii and sign all these U25 Japanese players and while I'm at get nootbar through free agency. Cause the young Japanese proved they can go against the best mlb hitters especially in that final. They just embody baseball really well. Aggressive base running, bunt, hustling every play, setup scoring chances at all costs, etc.
Japanese baseball players are so disciplined. It shows from little league to the big leagues. I live on Guam and Japan is 4 hours flight time. They hold Spring training camps here likewise for Korean baseball.
@@samuelsandate9804 I'm legit asking why is the Angels' location a good one and you're here assuming I'm crying when I don't really root for a team in MLB lol
From a Phillies fan Sasaki's probably going to the Dodgers as well in the near future There's a reason why so many asian players went to the Dodgers Nomo, Ryu, Darvish, Maeda, Ohtani, Kuo, Yamamoto, Park, and more Los Angeles has more asian population, bigger market, warmer climate, closer to home, and Dodgers decade long investment in the asian countries Shohei and Yamamoto were two of the most dominant NPB players that Sasaki looks up to And it'd much easier for Sasaki to settle and get confortable with fellow japanese as teammates Ohtani+Yamamoto+Sasaki would be a gold mine for the dodgers to attract oversea japanese fans(maybe even South Korean and Taiwanese fans also)
Who are y'all trying to kid?!?! Both of these dudes will be sprinting to the MLB as soon as they can!!!! Both will sign big money deals and Maurukami will be a successful hitter but Sasaki needs work or he'll get rocked. He's got plenty of tools but he needs to land with a team known for strong pitching development, like Atlanta or the dodgers
Jim Abbot should be in The HOF just for making MLB alone But it was No Gimmick He played 10 years in MLB Pitched A No/No Finished 3rd in Cy Young Voting & should be in The HOF , imo He should be put up & spoke of more for kids with disabilities to have Him to look up to and to see that they can still play The Game ⚾️
I wonder if the japanese league/owners would consider posting their players even earlier (those younger than 24) or three years before current posting age thresholds, if there was an additional $20-$25 million required on top of the current posting fees? For certain prospects, i think some owners would cough it up.
They would 😂 both sides ( I meant the owners ) . But both leagues don't agree on that . For Japan they don't want America stealing their best players just out of high school . For America they don't want early 20 boys getting paid 20million per year while their 20s boys are still getting rookie pay 😅 till 25
Pitcher Roki Sasaki seems to be worried about living abroad, including the United States, because there are too many foods he is not good at. Any MLB team that acquires him may need to hire his own cook.
How does China not make a competitive team in all major sports with a population of 1B and money in their hands to fund sport camps? Generally confused and asking.
@@mikecheung227 But for Japan to be this dominant with just a fraction of a population of China? Cant just be influence, because Japan also excels in volleyball, boxing, mma, golf, and football/soccer.
@@davidlee9411 because they had actual interest in the sport. Thus my point of American influence in Japan post WWII. How would China have great baseball players when no one cares about the sport there? If China showed interest in these main sports which Japan has they would excel too.
@@davidlee9411 your point of population size and players doesn’t make sense. Look at all the Latin American teams and their country size. We all know they are a Mecca for great players. Those countries baseball is their main sport, they live and breathe it. Same as Hawaiians and American football. China just doesn’t have any interest
@@mikecheung227 Baseball was already famous in japan before the war, the Hanshin Stadium in Osaka was build in 1924 and in 1934 an all star MLB team went to a tour game in Japan where Babe Ruth become a legend among the Japanese
The difference on the ball is miniscule. If you put npb ball and mlb ball side by side, you won't see a difference. Parks are symmetrical, all the same. Think Yankee stadium. 400 feet straight center. Foul territory is bigger in NPB, so there's a lot of space. It really doesn't matter because these guys hit the ball upper deck, which is like 445 feet. Murakami hit the ball in the upper deck in Miami. It was an easy 430 feet.
Why do all the best baseball players in Japan want to come to the US and MLB? Money (pride too, but money). Masahiro Tanaka is the highest paid pitcher and earns around $6.9 million a year. 3rd baseman Yuni Yanagita is the highest paid position player and makes $5.5 million. By comparison the average salary in MLB is just over $4 million a year; Tanaka would only be the 221st highest paid player in MLB.
Sorry, you know nothing about Japanese. Japanese is not about money. It's how they feel comfortable living. Their country is the safest, cleanest, healthiest place to live on earth by far than any other country in the world. If they move out of their country, they try to find a place where it is close to it. That's why Ohtani chose the west coast teams. They are also the top economic country in the world. Money isn't their problem. It's not like Dominca or Brazil trying to become MLB players or Soccer players to earn huge money for their family.
Rob Manfred is killing the MLB. Absurd contracts, losing tv contracts and clubs wont be able to afford players. Failure to keep current with younger generations not letting local networks watch games on phones and ipads. Its a disgrace how out of touch Manfred is.
Yew but there's still skepticism about asian players here. Hitter? "Our" pitchers will neutralize him, he'll hit 250 and be done for. Pitcher? "Our" muscular guys will pound his pitches to the upper deck
In Japan, someone says that If a low-quality official major league ball will always cause an injury and require Tommy John surgery, then Roki Sasaki should have Tommy John surgery before moving to the major leagues.
Next WBC USA needs to put a dream team together. We didnt even have any of our top pitchers. If the best American pitchers would've played we woulve won easily.
