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  • Tom VanHaaren, ESPN Staff WriterJan 24, 2024, 09:39 PM ET

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    • ESPN staff writer
    • Joined ESPN in 2011
    • Graduated from Central Michigan

In his time as Michigan‘s head coach, Jim Harbaugh created media frenzies, dustups with coaches, viral moments with recruits and everything in between.

Hired in late 2014 to replace Brady Hoke as the Wolverines’ coach, Harbaugh wasted no time once in Ann Arbor to ruffle feathers by poking at coaches for breaking rules and pushing the limits on what the NCAA would allow through satellite camps across the country.

He climbed trees, had sleepovers and made cakes for recruits to try to win them over. After three Big Ten titles, three College Football Playoff appearances and having delivered his alma mater its first national title since 1997, Harbaugh accepted the head coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Since he is departing the college football world, here is a look at some of his more memorable and viral moments after joining Michigan in 2014.

Feb. 7, 2015: Harbaugh had a commitment from ESPN 300 running back Mike Weber in the 2015 class, a top prospect out of Detroit Cass Tech. Weber decommitted from the Wolverines in the middle of the fourth quarter of the team’s loss to Maryland in the 2014 season.

Harbaugh fought to get Weber back in the class, but he ultimately signed with Ohio State. Weber said at the time that running backs coach Stan Drayton was a big part of his commitment, but the Buckeyes’ running backs coach left to take the same position with the Chicago Bears the day after Weber signed his national letter of intent with Ohio State.

Harbaugh took the opportunity to tweet about the situation.

Weber stuck with Ohio State and played four seasons for the Buckeyes, before he was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2019 NFL draft.

March 3, 2015: Harbaugh had been known to be a fan of TV star Judge Judy, even attending a taping of her show with his father, Jack.

So, he, naturally, took to Twitter to congratulate Judge Judy on a contract extension.

He has since played cards with the judge and has publicly talked about his admiration for her and the show.

“I’m a big fan of the ‘Judge Judy’ show,” Harbaugh told reporters at the 2013 NFL combine. “And when you lie in Judge Judy’s courtroom, it’s over, your credibility is completely lost, you stand no chance of winning that case. So, I learned that from her. It’s very powerful.”

March 14, 2015: The 2016 recruiting class is when Harbaugh really started to pull out all the stops on the recruiting trail. The staff put a ton of effort and creativity into recruiting ESPN 300 defensive lineman Boss Tagaloa, from California.

That included Harbaugh recreating a “promposal” poster that Tagaloa used to ask someone to prom. Harbaugh posed for a picture with a sign of his own that read, ‘UM will be sour without you, so let’s make it sweet. MICH?’

Tagaloa, however, ended up signing with UCLA.

April 24, 2015: The satellite camp idea was born. Harbaugh’s plan was to host football camps around the country, especially in SEC states.

As one of the first big ideas that Harbaugh implemented, it ruffled the feathers of many other college coaches. Then-Alabama coach Nick Saban called them, “ridiculous.” Harbaugh was accused of creating the camps as a recruiting tool, knowing that some conferences wouldn’t allow their programs to travel more than 50 miles to attend high school camps.

Harbaugh tweeted out an invitation to any other college coach that wanted to attend Michigan’s camp.

To get around the 50-mile rule for some schools, Harbaugh included an invitation for those coaches to come as guest speakers at the camp.

Then-ACC commissioner John Swofford said at the time that his conference would be in favor of a rule that would prohibit satellite camps across the country.

“We just don’t feel like it’s a healthy part of the recruiting process in college football,” Swofford said at the time. “We may have to ultimately reconsider it if the rules continue to allow it, because we’re not going to put ourselves in a competitive disadvantage in recruiting if we were to feel like we were disadvantaged, but our primary purpose right now is to try to gain support for a national rule that prohibits it.”

The NCAA first banned satellite camps, which triggered one of Harbaugh’s first public criticisms of the NCAA, but then rescinded the ban and allowed the camps to continue.

June 4, 2015: The tour of satellite camps was announced in June and was called the Summer Swarm. It consisted of nine locations, starting in Indianapolis, traveling to Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, California and eventually finishing back in Michigan. At the stops, Harbaugh would often wear jerseys representing local teams.

The tour spanned eight days and cost Michigan $211,948 in total, according to FOIA requests by MLive.

June 5, 2015: The Summer Swarm had already garnered attention from media and coaches, but Harbaugh wasted no time in increasing visibility by taking his shirt off while playing a pickup game at one of the camps.

He kept his signature khakis on while playing a game of shirts and skins.

“I was like a pig in slop,” Harbaugh said at the camp. “Man, you guys are in shape. You’ve got a heart for football, a face for football and I love being around you guys. That was a fun, fun day.”

June 25, 2015: Once the Swarm Tour was over, Harbaugh was back in Ann Arbor, entertaining recruits. He took tight end recruit Naseir Upshur and a few others out for ice cream, which Upshur documented on Twitter.

This was one of the more tame recruiting events, but given that Harbaugh was fresh off of his cross-country antics, it once again made news.

Aug. 12, 2015: Prior to the start of his first season as Michigan head coach, Harbaugh told reporters that after the wild tour, viral headlines and more publicity than Michigan had seen in quite some time, he and the team would be headed into submarine mode.

“We’re going into a submarine, and you won’t see us for a while,” Harbaugh said at the time. “You won’t hear from us, you won’t see us, we’ll be working. We’ll be in a bunker until we decide we’re not.”

No one from the team emerged from the submarine publicly until August 27, when a few players talked to the media. Offensive lineman Kyle Kalis was one of the first players to surface.

“It was definitely an experience,” Kalis said. “One that I’ll tell my kids about when I’m older. It’s definitely been a camp unlike any we’ve had before, and it’s going to pay dividends for us down the road.”

Nov., 2015: Harbaugh’s diet plan was revealed.

“I take a vitamin every day. It’s called a steak. I truly believe the No. 1 natural steroid is sleep, and the No. 2 natural steroid is milk, whole milk. Three would be water. Four would be steak. It goes with everything.”

Harbaugh, who once appeared in a “Got Milk” ad, later told Dan Patrick that he didn’t like having anything less than whole milk at the team’s dining hall.

“We refuse to drink the candy-ass skim milk or the 1 percent,” Harbaugh said. “We refuse. We won’t have any of that.”

In 2016, Harbaugh was photographed at an Ann Arbor steakhouse ready to enjoy both of his favorite foods.

Nov. 18, 2015: Harbaugh had done the promposal recreation for recruits and members of his staff had written letters, but they moved on to baking birthday cakes for their prospects.

Jonathan Jones was only the recipient of a birthday cake tweet, so he didn’t actually get to eat the cake. It’s the thought that counts, though, and maybe Harbaugh and his staff enjoyed some of the cake in honor of Jones and his birthday.

They did it again for defensive lineman Jordan Elliott, making a cake that was supposed to look like the state of Texas as Elliott was from Texas. It worked only briefly, as Eliott committed to Michigan, but he eventually flipped to Texas.

January 14, 2016: Following a 10-3 season, this is when Harbaugh took the recruiting tactics to another level and had a sleepover at kicker Quinn Nordin’s house. The justification was that there was no limit as to how long an in-home visit could last.

So, in Harbaugh’s mind, if he stayed the night and stayed the rest of the day, it was all still one visit.

The news that the sleepover was happening spread quickly and Nordin’s neighbors decided to troll Harbaugh with a giant sign displaying the score of that year’s Michigan-Michigan State game which the Spartans had won.

Harbaugh then went to Nordin’s high school in the morning and eventually rode in the car with him to Ann Arbor for a visit to Michigan.

January 19, 2016: Harbaugh then traveled to the West Coast to continue recruiting Tagaloa, who got the promposal re-creation. This time, Harbaugh was attending class with the defensive tackle at his high school.

January 19, 2016: He stayed in California to recruit cornerback David Long.

They were outside of Long’s house, playing catch with Long and his siblings. Before they knew it, Harbaugh was climbing a tree.

“My little sister asked if he could climb the tree,” Long said at the time. “He was just trying to fulfill her request. He ended up putting my little brother up instead, because he never actually made it up.”

There was a picture that circulated online showing Harbaugh climbing the tree while wearing his khaki pants.

January 20, 2016: The sleepover with Nordin was such a success that Harbaugh decided to do it again, this time with defensive end Connor Murphy.

Harbaugh had history with the Murphy family, because he recruited Connor’s older brother Trent to Stanford. Harbaugh had babysat for Connor once when he was younger, but this time he was there recruiting the younger Murphy.

Feb. 24, 2016: The satellite camps had created quite the dust up among other coaches who weren’t happy about the decision to allow the camps to continue.

“(Michigan is) obviously trying to gain a competitive advantage, and obviously that’s their right,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said at the time. “But I think the NCAA in due time will have to step in and keep it from getting out of hand.”

That comment seemed pretty tame, but Harbaugh took offense to it and tweeted back at Smart.

Not much came from the exchange, but Harbaugh wasn’t done calling out opposing coaches.

March 3, 2016: Harbaugh and his staff were getting ready for their camp at IMG Academy in Florida, when then Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said he would attend, along with Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio.

Dantonio joked with Bielema that they could meet in Florida for lunch, which caused then-Tennessee coach Butch Jones to say he, too, would meet them for lunch in Florida.

That didn’t sit well with Harbaugh, who subtweeted Jones by calling him his Rocky Top colleague.

April 2, 2016: This begins the period when Harbaugh began going on stage with rappers. That included joining Lil Dicky, who was performing in Ann Arbor, for a rendition of the National Anthem.

April 13, 2016: Just 11 days after going on stage with Lil Dicky, Harbaugh spent time with rap group Migos before their concert in Detroit.

The group asked Harbaugh to come on stage and dab with them, so they naturally had to ice him out with jewelry before he made his appearance.

Harbaugh did go on stage and was doused with water while dancing during the concert.

Harbaugh would later invite the group back to Ann Arbor.

May 31, 2016: Harbaugh is back to throwing shade at opposing coaches, this time at Saban.

At SEC meetings, Saban had talked about despising satellite camps and said college football was moving towards the wild, wild west. His comments drew the ire of Harbaugh and resulted in his tweet.

Saban later fired back at Harbaugh through reporters.

“I don’t really care what he thinks or tweets,” Saban said. “I say what I think is best for college football and the players.”

June 9, 2016: Harbaugh had built a relationship with the staff and administration at Paramus Catholic high school through recruiting Paramus players Jabrill Peppers and Rashan Gary.

The plan was for the coaches to come to Paramus Catholic for a satellite camp, but the NCAA put a temporary ban on the camps at the time. That led to Harbaugh coming to the school and giving the commencement speech for the graduating class.

The coaches were recruiting linebacker Drew Singleton and a few other players from the team, so it gave Harbaugh a chance to still show up and have a presence at the school.

July 18, 2016: Harbaugh continued appearing on the rap scene, this time with artist Bailey, in a song called, “Who’s got it better than us?” That is, of course, Harbaugh’s signature saying.

July 14, 2016: Harbaugh ended the camp tour early, because there was fear of the Zeka virus in American Samoa, where a camp was supposed to be held. He instead stayed in California and took a trip to Disneyland, where he ran into talk show host Jerry Springer.

Oct. 15, 2016: Recruiting in the San Francisco area, Harbaugh held the down marker on a chain gang at a high school game.

Nov. 12, 2016: And if we’re talking about random, Harbaugh went on a radio show and spoke about his admiration for Spongebob Squarepants.

“I love his attitude,” Harbaugh said at the time. “He attacks each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind! I’ve kind of modeled my behavior after him. We all should. What a great employee he is. He’s a go-getter. He’s always got a bounce to his step. He’s got pizzazz. He puts his heart and soul into making those crabby patties. I think he’s awesome.”

April 26, 2017: At this time, Harbaugh started a tradition of taking the team to meaningful places during the offseason.

In 2017, he took the team to Italy, where Harbaugh had the chance to meet the Pope. Of course, upon meeting Pope Francis, Harbaugh gave him a Michigan helmet and Jordan shoes.

If you were hoping that the pontiff would make an appearance while wearing the Jordans, it hasn’t happened yet.

April 28, 2017: While in Italy, Harbaugh did an impression of Maximus from the movie “Gladiator.”

And sang some opera for reporters.

Sep. 30, 2017: During a bye week, Harbaugh went to Michigan’s Water Carnival and participated in some of the platform diving. He, of course, did it in khakis.

He tried multiple times in what was determined to be a cannonball contest.

July 19, 2018: “Car and Driver” went to Ann Arbor to do a video segment with Harbaugh and a Dodge Charger. Harbaugh drove to his childhood house, and then drove the car into the Big House and did doughnuts on the turf.

July 30, 2018: In a story in Bleacher Report, Harbaugh is quoted as telling quarterback Wilton Speight to avoid chicken “because it’s a nervous bird.”

Aug. 6, 2020: During a conference call among Big Ten coaches, Harbaugh reportedly interrupted Ohio State coach Ryan Day and asked him about a photo that showed then assistant coach Al Washington coaching the linebackers during a time on the calendar when it wasn’t permitted.

Day reportedly responded by telling Harbaugh to worry about his team. After the call, Bucknuts reported that Day told his team that Michigan should hope for a mercy rule, because they’re going to, “hang 100 on them.”

Sep. 15, 2020: This is the last time that Harbaugh tweeted, perhaps ending an epic run of one of the great Twitter beefers.

Nov. 28, 2021: After Day said Ohio State was going to hang 100 points on Michigan, the Wolverines beat Ohio State 42-27. Harbaugh wasted no time in talking trash to Day when asked in his postgame press conference what he thought of Ohio State’s trash talking in recent years.

“Sometimes there are people standing on third base that think they hit a triple,” Harbaugh said at the time.”But they didn’t.”

Harbaugh eventually explained on a radio show on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit that it was a shot at Day.

“It was definitely a counterpunch by me, to the comment that they were going to hang 100 on us, etcetera,” Harbaugh said on the radio. “Kind of like Sugar Ray Robinson.”

Jan. 20, 2022: While Harbaugh hasn’t been on social media, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t gone viral. While recruiting players at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida, he decided to do squats in the weight room.

Dec. 11, 2022: In-home visits with Harbaugh have already produced sleep overs and tree-climbing escapades.

In a seemingly tamer moment, Harbaugh helped wash the dishes at receiver Semaj Morgan’s house on a visit.

Feb. 22, 2023: Picture yourself driving on a road at night, when you come across a large tree blocking your way. Now imagine you look out your windshield to see Jim Harbaugh trying to move the tree in front of you.

That is exactly what happened to one driver near Ann Arbor, as Harbaugh made the news for helping a police officer move a tree out of the road. The ordeal was caught on the police camera and footage was later shared online.

Sep. 9, 2023: While serving a three-game suspension for NCAA recruiting violations, Harbaugh was back working with the referee crew.

Sep. 30, 2023: Defensive tackle Kenneth Grant intercepted a pass against Nebraska, which was quite the feat for a 6-foot-3, 339-pound lineman. After the game was over, when everyone was in the locker room, Harbaugh decided that the whole team should sing the song, “For he’s a jolly good fellow,” to Grant.

The song somehow stuck with the team and they sang it after every game this season.

Nov. 6, 2023: Pro wrestling icon Ric Flair and Harbaugh became friends when Harbaugh played for the Chicago Bears and have spent time together ever since.

Flair showed up to Ann Arbor for a visit in November and exited the building without his signature, “Woo.”

Nov. 13, 2023: Harbaugh sounded as though he was losing his voice, but insisted he wasn’t sick.

Instead, he insisted that he is the “iron wall that viruses bash against” and he’ll do “push ups and eat an apple” to get better.

Nov. 20, 2023: In one of his final odd statements as Michigan coach, Harbaugh quoted Ted Lasso.

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Irish CB, first-round hopeful Morrison enters draft

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January 23, 2025

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Irish CB, first-round hopeful Morrison enters draft

  • Adam RittenbergJan 23, 2025, 01:49 PM ET

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      College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.

Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison, a freshman All-America selection in 2022 who became a team captain before an October hip injury ended his 2024 season, is headed to the NFL draft.

Morrison announced his decision Thursday on social media, writing, “This is not just the end of one chapter — it’s the beginning of another. I’ll carry the lessons, memories, and love from Notre Dame every step of the way.”

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. lists Morrison as his No. 23 overall prospect and No. 3 cornerback for the draft.

Notre Dame also is losing several players to the transfer portal following Monday’s loss to Ohio State in the CFP national championship. A pair of starting offensive linemen, Rocco Spindler and Pat Coogan, entered the portal, as did backup Sam Pendleton with a “do not contact” tag. Other Notre Dame portal entries include wide receivers Jayden Thomas and Deion Colzie.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Morrison had six interceptions as a true freshman in 2022, tying for third nationally and earning freshman All-America honors from ESPN and other outlets. His six interceptions were the most for a Notre Dame player since linebacker Manti Te’o had seven as a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2012.

Morrison had three interceptions and a team-high 10 pass breakups in 2023, when he was a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award. Named a preseason All-America selection in the fall, Morrison started Notre Dame’s first six games before sustaining the hip injury Oct. 12 against Stanford. He underwent season-ending hip surgery.

He finished his Notre Dame career with 9 interceptions, 27 passes defended and 84 tackles. The Phoenix native is the son of former NFL safety Darryl Morrison, who played for Washington from 1993 to 1996.

Thomas started 12 games during the 2022 and 2023 seasons and had 43 career receptions for 838 yards and seven touchdowns with Notre Dame.

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Notre Dame’s Golden returns to Bengals as DC

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January 23, 2025

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Notre Dame's Golden returns to Bengals as DC

  • Ben BabyJan 22, 2025, 04:46 PM ET

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      Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports.
      He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN’s NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs.
      A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).

CINCINNATI — A familiar face is headed back to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden has rejoined the Bengals in the same role, the team announced Thursday. The news comes three days after the Fighting Irish lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

“Al is a very highly regarded coach, and we are excited to welcome him back to the Bengals as defensive coordinator,” head coach Zac Taylor said in a statement. “He understands football at every level and has had great success as a coordinator, position coach and head coach. Al has a great football mind and will bring a smart, physical, aggressive approach to our defense.”

Golden, 55, spent the past three seasons as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. He replaces Lou Anarumo, who held the post for the past six seasons before he was fired after the Bengals missed the postseason.

This will be Golden’s second stint on Taylor’s coaching staff. Before taking the job at Notre Dame, he was Cincinnati’s linebackers coach during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. During those years, Golden played an integral role in leading a defense that helped the Bengals reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.

The Fighting Irish’s defense was a major reason why Notre Dame was a win away from its first national championship since 1988. Entering the CFP final against the Buckeyes, Notre Dame’s defense ranked fourth among Power 4 teams in points allowed per drive (1.21), according to ESPN Research.

He will be tasked with leading a Bengals defense that looks vastly different from just a couple of years ago. Staples from that Super Bowl team, including safety Jessie Bates III and defensive tackle DJ Reader, departed in free agency in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Last season, Anarumo was tasked with balancing a group that featured aging veterans, injuries at key positions and inexperience at others.

Eventually, the defense figured things out during the Bengals’ five-game winning streak to close the regular season. But with Cincinnati missing the postseason for a second straight year, Taylor opted for a staff shake-up. Along with Anarumo, offensive line coach Frank Pollack and defensive line coach Marion Hobby were among those who were not retained.

On Monday, Cincinnati announced Scott Peters as Pollack’s replacement and Michael McCarthy as the assistant offensive line coach. Later in the day, Anarumo was hired as the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive coordinator.

The Bengals will need to improve a unit that finished near the bottom of the league in several key categories. Last season, Cincinnati was 26th in points allowed per drive, 30th in defensive red zone efficiency and 30th in first downs allowed per game, according to ESPN Research.

Cincinnati is trying to build around star quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase as the team looks to end a two-year playoff drought. Burrow was named to his second Pro Bowl following a career year. Chase made his fourth Pro Bowl in as many NFL seasons and joined defensive end Trey Hendrickson as the team’s first All-Pro selections since 2015.

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Sasaki: Joining Dodgers ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ chance

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January 23, 2025

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Sasaki: Joining Dodgers 'once-in-a-lifetime' chance

  • Alden GonzalezJan 22, 2025, 09:44 PM ET

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      ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.

LOS ANGELES — Roki Sasaki donned a No. 11 Los Angeles Dodgers jersey atop a makeshift stage Wednesday afternoon and called it the culmination of “an incredibly difficult decision.”

When Sasaki was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in the middle of December — a development evaluators have spent years anticipating — 20 major league teams formally expressed interest. Eight of those clubs were granted initial meetings at the L.A. offices of Sasaki’s agency, Wasserman. Three were then named finalists in the middle of January, prompting official visits to their ballparks. And in the end, to practically nobody’s surprise, it was the Dodgers who won out.

The Dodgers had long been deemed favorites for Sasaki, so much so that many viewed the pairing as an inevitability. In the wake of that actually materializing, scouts and executives throughout the industry have privately complained about being dragged through what they perceived as a process that already had a predetermined outcome. Some have also expressed concern that the homework assignment Sasaki gave to each of the eight teams he initially met with, asking them to present their ideas for how to recapture the life of his fastball, saw them provide proprietary information without ultimately having a reasonable chance to get him.

Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, admitted he has heard some of those complaints over the past handful of days.

“I’ve tried to be an open book and as transparent as possible with all the teams in the league,” said Wolfe, who has vehemently denied claims of a predetermined deal from the onset. “I answer every phone call, I answer every question. This goes back to before the process even started. Every team I think would tell you that I told each one of them where they stood throughout the entire process, why they got a meeting, why they didn’t get a meeting, why other teams got a meeting. I tried to do my best to do that. He was only going to be able to pick one.”

Sasaki, 23, is considered one of the world’s most promising pitching prospects, with a triple-digit fastball and an otherworldly splitter. Through four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, Sasaki posted a 2.10 ERA, a 0.89 WHIP and 505 strikeouts against just 88 walks in 394⅔ innings. But he has openly acknowledged to teams that he is not yet fully formed, and many of those who followed him in Japan believed his priority would be to go to the team that had the best chance of making him better.

Few would argue that the Dodgers don’t fit that description. Their vast resources, recent run of success and sizeable footprint in Japan made them an obvious fit for Sasaki, but it was their track record of pitching development that landed them one of the sport’s most intriguing prospects.

“His goal is to be the first Japanese pitcher to win a Cy Young, and he definitely possesses the ability to do that,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “We’re excited to partner with him.”

Sasaki will join a star-studded rotation headlined by Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, decorated Japanese countrymen who signed free agent deals totaling more than $1 billion in December 2023. The Dodgers went on to win the ensuing World Series, then doubled down on one of the sport’s richest, most talented rosters.

Over the past three months, they’ve signed starting pitcher Blake Snell for $182 million, extended utility man Tommy Edman for $74 million, given reliever Tanner Scott $72 million, brought back corner outfielder Teoscar Hernandez for $66 million, added another corner outfielder in Michael Conforto ($17 million) and struck a surprising deal with Korean middle infielder Hyeseong Kim ($12.5 million). At some point, they’ll finalize a contract with another back-end reliever in Kirby Yates and will bring back longtime ace Clayton Kershaw.

But Sasaki, who has drawn the attention of Dodgers scouts since he was throwing 100-mph fastballs in high school, was the ultimate prize.

“As I transition to the major leagues, I am deeply honored so many teams reached out to me, especially considering I haven’t achieved much in Japan,” Sasaki, speaking through an interpreter, said in front of hundreds of media members. “It makes me feel more focused than ever. I am truly grateful to all the team officials who took the time to meet with me during this process.

“I spent the past month both embracing and reflecting on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to choose a place purely based on where I can grow as a player the most,” Sasaki continued. “Every organization helped me in its own way, and it was an incredibly difficult decision to choose just one. I am fully aware that there are many different opinions out there. But now that I have decided to come here, I want to move forward with the belief that the decision I made is the best one, trust in those who believed in my potential and (have) conviction in the goals that I set for myself.”

Major League Baseball heard complaints from rival teams about a prearranged deal between Sasaki’s side and the Dodgers before he was posted, prompting an investigation “to ensure the protocol agreement had been followed,” a league official said in a statement. MLB found no evidence, prompting Sasaki to be included as part of the 2025 international signing class.

Because he is under 25 years old and spent less than six seasons in NPB, Sasaki was made available as an international amateur, his earnings restricted to teams’ signing-bonus pools. The Dodgers gave him $6.5 million, which constitutes the vast majority of their allotment, and will control Sasaki’s rights until he attains the six years of service time required for free agency. Sasaki said his immediate goal is to “beat the competition and make sure I do get a major league contract.”

Sasaki combined to throw barely more than 200 innings over the past two years and is expected to be handled carefully in the United States. The Dodgers won’t set a strict innings limit for him in 2025 but will deploy a traditional six-man rotation, which also makes sense with Ohtani returning as a two-way player. The Dodgers’ initial meeting with Sasaki saw them tout the way their training staff, pitching coaches and performance-science group work in harmony. In their second, they brought out Ohtani, Edman, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Sasaki’s catcher, Will Smith, in hopes of wooing him. And in the end, it was Ohtani who broke the news to the Dodgers’ front-office members, letting them know they landed Sasaki in a text before his agent could get around to calling.

Friedman described it as “pure excitement.” Many others, however, rolled their eyes at what they felt was inevitable. Wolfe denied that, saying, “I don’t believe [the Dodgers] was always the destination.” But then he went on to describe how prevalent the Dodgers are in Japan. Their games are on every morning and rebroadcast later at night. Dodgers-specific shops outfit stadiums throughout the country.

“They’re everywhere,” Wolfe said. “And I think that all the players and fans see the Dodgers every day, so it’s always in their mind because of Ohtani and Yamamoto. But when (Sasaki) came over here, he came with a very open mind.”

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