Sasaki met with ‘set few’ of 20 interested teams
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
The initial list of major league teams that expressed interest in Roki Sasaki stretched to 20, his agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman Group, said Monday.
Sasaki, the uber-talented young starting pitcher, will join one of those teams at some point in the second half of January and is currently back home in Japan pondering the second phase of his highly scrutinized recruiting process.
Wolfe did not provide many specifics during a conference call with the media, only to state that Sasaki met with “a set few number of teams” over these past few weeks and will make his decision at some point between Jan. 15, when the new international signing period opens, and Jan. 23, when Sasaki’s posting window closes.
Market size, living dynamics and even pedigree won’t be the foremost priority.
“He doesn’t seem to look at it in the typical way that other players do,” Wolfe said. “He has a more long-term, global view of things. I believe Roki is also very interested in the pitching development and how a team is going to help him get better, both in the near future and over the course of his career. He didn’t seem overly concerned about whether a team had Japanese players on their team or not, which, in the past, when I represented Japanese players, that was sometimes an issue. That was never a topic of discussion.”
At 23, Sasaki is already one of the world’s best pitchers, possessing a triple-digit fastball and a devastating splitter. With the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball over the past four seasons, Sasaki posted a 2.10 ERA with 505 strikeouts against just 88 walks in 394⅔ innings. Because he would be classified as an international amateur — meaning he would cost teams their international bonus pools and essentially sign a minor league contract, unable to become a traditional free agent until accruing six years of major league service time — the bidding for his services was expected to be fierce.
Wolfe experienced that at the start of Sasaki’s 45-day posting window on Dec. 15, shortly after sending a letter to every team asking them to send information if they were interested. Within days, recruiting pitches flooded his offices.
“While the quality and the uniqueness varied, it was really something,” Wolfe said. “The level of preparation, the videos — I mean it was like the Roki film festival. There were highly in-depth PowerPoint presentations, short films. Some teams made actual books. They had people that had clearly spent hundreds of hours researching Roki and his personal background, his professional background.”
Various reports have listed the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants among the teams that were granted initial meetings. And though there has been a lot of speculation that the bidding for Sasaki could come down to the Dodgers and Padres, Wolfe said it was important to his client that everyone operate “on a level playing field,” prompting specific demands for those initial meetings: that they all last within two hours and take place at Wasserman’s L.A. offices. Sasaki stressed that current players not attend, though some sent their pitches over video.
“I think that the teams that met with him would tell you he was engaged, he asked questions — and he gave every team something that he called a homework assignment, the team that he was going to meet with,” Wolfe said. “And I think it was a great opportunity for the teams to really show what they specialize in. Without giving the actual details of what that assignment was, every team got that very same assignment, and it enabled them to show how they can analyze and communicate information with him and really showed where he was coming from in analyzing and creating his selection criteria in looking at teams.”
Sasaki’s next step has yet to be fully formed. It could involve tacking on a small handful of additional meetings or, more likely whittling his list. Visiting certain cities as part of his final decision-making process is also possible.
At the moment, Wolfe said, Sasaki isn’t expected to pick a team when the new international signing period opens on Jan. 15. Though Wolfe did not note this specifically, utilizing the additional eight days would allow teams to trade for additional international bonus pool money that would essentially act as Sasaki’s signing bonus. International bonus pools for 2025 range from about $5.1 million to $7.5 million, but teams can trade for up to an additional 60%.
Had Sasaki waited two more years to turn 25, he could have instead signed a nine-figure contract similar to what Yoshinobu Yamamoto attained from the Dodgers last offseason. Instead, he followed in the footsteps of Shohei Ohtani, an international amateur when he joined the Los Angeles Angels in December of 2017. Wolfe believes being around Ohtani and Yu Darvish during the World Baseball Classic in 2023 and watching Shota Imanaga dominate with the Cubs as a rookie in 2024 pushed Sasaki to challenge himself sooner.
The sooner he could face the world’s best hitters and utilize major league resources, the better it would make him.
“Roki is by no means a finished product,” Wolfe said. “He knows it, and the teams know it. He’s incredibly talented; we all know that. But he is a guy that wants to be great. He’s not coming here just to be rich or get a huge contract. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greatest ever. I see that now, and he’s articulated it. And to be that, he knows he has to challenge himself.”
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Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
Notre Dame‘s Marcus Freeman and Penn State‘s James Franklin are aware they are on the brink of making history in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday.
The winner will become the first Black head coach to take a team to the national championship game. Both were asked about that possibility during their respective news conferences Saturday previewing their matchup.
Franklin said it reminded him of Super Bowl XLI between Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith in 2007, the first Super Bowl featuring Black head coaches. Franklin was the offensive coordinator at Kansas State at the time, coaching for Ron Prince, another Black head coach.
“I remember thinking that, as a coach, how significant that was in the profession, and how significant that was for young coaches coming up in the profession, to see those guys in that role,” Franklin said. “I also remember, at that time, there were a lot of conversations about, ‘Will this impact the profession? Will this impact opportunities for guys?'”
At the time, there were six Black head coaches in college football, Franklin said. There are now 16 head coaches in 134 FBS programs, something Franklin described as progress.
“I know some people will say, ‘Well, that that’s not a huge increase,’ but it is an increase,” Franklin said. “At the end of the day, does this create opportunities for more guys to get in front of athletic directors? Does this create opportunities for search firms? I hope so. I think at the end of the day, you just want an opportunity, and you want to be able to earn it through your work and through your actions. I take a lot of pride in it.”
When Freeman was asked, he made sure to note that he is also half-Korean, a nod to his mother. But he also understands the significance of the moment.
“It’s a reminder that you are a representation for so many others that look like you, and I don’t take that for granted,” Freeman said. “I’m going to work tirelessly to be the best version of me, and it’s great, because even the guys in our program can understand, ‘Don’t put a ceiling on what you can be and what you can do.’
“Now, with that being said, it’s not about me. It’s about us. More than anything, I want to achieve team glory with this program.”
Freeman was also asked how he can inspire other young coaches who are watching him on this stage.
“If you want to impact the young people in this profession, you probably should do things to help them, and those are things that maybe after the season I could focus on trying to do,” Freeman said. “I want to be a representation. But that’s not enough. If you want to truly help some people, then you got to be one to make decisions and actions that truly help people.”
Franklin said he is honored to be in position to coach against Freeman in the semifinal.
“I’m honored to be able to compete against Notre Dame. Most importantly, I’m honored to represent Penn State and the young men in that locker room,” Franklin said. “For me to sit here and say that it’s not important, it’s not significant, that would not be accurate.”
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Penn State All-American defensive end Abdul Carter is working back from an apparent left arm injury, and while coach James Franklin said it’s “too early” to determine Carter’s status for the College Football Playoff semifinal against Notre Dame, there’s optimism about his return.
“At this point, I don’t think there’s anything stopping him from playing, but it’s going to come down to, how is he able to play?” Franklin said Saturday. “We’ll see. But his mentality is great. He’s excited about this week, but it’s too early to say at this stage.”
Carter left the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl against Boise State on Tuesday in the first quarter, not recording any statistics before exiting and not returning. No. 6 seed Penn State won 31-14 to advance to the Capital One Orange Bowl, where it will face No. 7 seed Notre Dame on Thursday night.
Carter, 6-foot-3 and 252 pounds, became Penn State’s first consensus All-America selection since Saquon Barkley in 2017. He also was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Lineman of the Year. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. lists Carter as the No. 2 prospect for the 2025 NFL draft, behind Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter of Colorado.
Carter posted a social media message Tuesday of Darth Vader in a bacta tank from the movie “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” indicating his recovery process from the injury.
“He’s doing great. His attitude is great. His mentality has been really good,” Franklin said. “We’ll see, but he’s taken the right approach and mentality, and it’s really going to come down to how he feels and how much practice he’s going to get during the week.”
Franklin does not usually provide injury updates about players who are not out for the season but understands the attention around Carter, who leads Penn State in sacks (11) and tackles for loss (21.5) and ranks second in quarterback hurries (8) and fourth in total tackles (63). A Philadelphia native, Carter moved from linebacker to defensive end this season under new defensive coordinator Tom Allen. He has 22 career sacks, 37.5 tackles for loss, 5 forced fumbles, 1 interception and 13 passes defended.
Penn State players are off Saturday before returning to practice Sunday.
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