When Roki Sasaki sat down for a sushi dinner with Dodgers officers and gamers final week, days earlier than agreeing to signal with the membership in one of many largest coups of baseball’s offseason, Shohei Ohtani was considered one of a number of stars in attendance.
It wasn’t the primary time the previous Japanese teammates had dined collectively in current months.
All through Sasaki’s extremely anticipated and long-awaited posting course of and free company, the Dodgers knew the principle pillars they wished their courtship to be constructed upon:
That they have been the premier vacation spot for star gamers. That they have been the league’s most adept franchise at serving to gamers, significantly gifted younger pitchers, develop instruments and maximize their expertise. That if Sasaki wished to appreciate his objective of changing into the most effective gamers on this planet, they have been one of the best crew for him.
All alongside, the Dodgers additionally knew who one of the best couriers of that message can be.
Positive, they wooed the 23-year-old phenom with shows from their entrance workplace, teaching workers and participant growth division early within the course of. They laid out a plan for his progress and methods they believed he may polish his tantalizing arsenal. They even employed considered one of their iconic house owners, former Lakers star Magic Johnson, of their preliminary in-person assembly with Sasaki final month.
However on the coronary heart of their pitch have been testimonials from Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who have been teammates with Sasaki’ through the 2023 World Baseball Traditional.
In December, Ohtani and Yamamoto took Sasaki to dinner, in response to a number of folks with data of the state of affairs not licensed to talk publicly. The subjects mentioned are unknown. However weeks later, the meal has grow to be one of many many examples of how Dodgers gamers pushed to deliver Sasaki to Los Angeles, with stars resembling Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Tyler Glasnow becoming a member of Ohtani and Yamamoto in serving to promote Sasaki on the concept of starting his big-league profession in Dodger blue.
Shohei Ohtani, heart, is tossed by his teammates, together with Roki Sasaki, proper, in celebration after profitable the 2023 WBC championship in Miami.
(Kyodo through Related Press)
“They wanted him to know how much they were looking forward to having him join them. They wanted him to hear the message,” stated one individual with data of the recruiting efforts not licensed to talk publicly. “The players caring that much, I think that was meaningful to him. He didn’t have to worry about how he would be perceived. He would be perceived great. And they all wanted him here.”
Within the early phases of Sasaki’s free company this winter, the affect of present gamers within the pitcher’s decision-making course of was restricted.
In keeping with his agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman Media Group, Sasaki requested that no gamers take part in his opening spherical of face-to-face conferences, which he held with at the very least eight groups at Wasserman’s places of work in Southern California in December. As a substitute, Sasaki’s preliminary impression of golf equipment was shaped by shows with executives, teaching workers members and different officers from his listing of candidates.
Forward of every session, Sasaki gave every crew the identical “homework assignment,” as Wolfe termed it, asking them to establish why they thought Sasaki’s fastball velocity dipped in Japan final 12 months — when his usually triple-digit heater sat nearer to 96 to 97 mph — and what their plan can be to rectify it.
“It was a great opportunity for the teams to really show what they specialize in,” Wolfe advised reporters final month. “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 different teams.”
To the Dodgers, the train landed in what officers believed to be a “sweet spot” for the group. From the outset, they aimed to make their extremely touted pitching growth equipment a key part of their enchantment to Sasaki — highlighting their veteran workers of coaches, a military of analysts and evaluators, and an arsenal of superior coaching instruments and applied sciences that can solely develop as soon as the crew’s in depth offseason renovations to Dodger Stadium are full.
And as they laid out their plan to the soft-spoken but inquisitive younger right-hander, they impressed him sufficient to grow to be considered one of three groups that secured a second assembly.
From there, Dodgers gamers started backing up every little thing membership brass had been speaking about. There was Sasaki’s dinner with Ohtani, who labored with Dodgers workers to progress by a pitching rehabilitation from Tommy John revision surgical procedure final 12 months, and Yamamoto, who steadily improved final season after making the same soar from Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball league.
“Shohei and Yoshi were very helpful, very influential, very involved with him on a personal level,” stated the individual with data of the Dodgers’ recruitment.
Sasaki additionally had a short however informative trade with Glasnow, a fellow Wolfe consumer.
“I called my agent and he was like, ‘Oh, I’m with Roki.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll say what’s up,’” Glasnow advised the Foul Territory podcast lately.
After the decision, Glasnow despatched Sasaki an extended endorsement of the Dodgers.
“If one of your main goals is to become the best pitcher you can possibly be, development-wise, scouting report-wise and all that stuff, I was like, this is the place for you,” Glasnow stated, and added that he advised Sasaki whether or not his motivation was “money or winning, this is the best place to grow as a baseball player. That was my message.”
That each one set the stage for the principle occasion, with the Dodgers internet hosting their second Sasaki assembly three days earlier than he signed. This time, with three finalists within the Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, the pitcher allowed gamers to participate within the course of.
And because the Dodgers ready for his or her last alternative to promote Sasaki on their imaginative and prescient, they made positive as a lot of their roster as potential was concerned.
When Sasaki arrived on the residence of Dodgers co-owner Peter Guber for final week’s assembly — held there, with the assistance of a personal sushi chef, due to the renovations at Dodger Stadium — he was greeted by about half a dozen gamers. Over the course of the night, every started hammering residence causes for him to signal with Los Angeles.
Smith, the beginning catcher, frolicked discussing the membership’s famend game-planning course of and the way he has constructed rapport with the star-studded pitching workers.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto smiles with catcher Will Smith after a bullpen session throughout spring coaching final season.
(Lindsey Wasson / Related Press)
Betts stood up at one level and delivered a prolonged speech that one individual in attendance recalled lasting virtually 10 minutes, throughout which the previous Most worthy participant extolled his time in Los Angeles and the “special” place it has grow to be within the second chapter of his profession.
For gamers who couldn’t attend — Yamamoto, who was out of city, amongst them — the Dodgers solicited movies to indicate to Sasaki, with every minute-long clip emphasizing the perks of enjoying for a franchise with virtually limitless assets and a profitable tradition created by the present possession that has spanned greater than a decade. Between the gamers in attendance, which included Freddie Freeman and Tommy Edman, and the video shows, Sasaki heard from about three-fourths of the roster.
Nobody’s presence loomed bigger than Ohtani’s, because the voice within the room who personally may relate to Sasaki probably the most.
As soon as upon a time, Ohtani was in Sasaki’s sneakers: a generational expertise from Japan’s rural northwest Iwate prefecture, making the soar to MLB at 23 years outdated, making an attempt to decipher which membership can be finest for the beginning of his big-league profession.
Since then, Ohtani has blossomed into the largest identify in baseball. He gained rookie of the 12 months and three MVPs. He perfected his craft as a two-way participant in a trend the game hadn’t witnessed since Babe Ruth. He realized the way to efficiently transition to the U.S., all whereas dealing with his standing as a world celeb.
It wasn’t till final 12 months, nonetheless, when Ohtani signed his $700-million contract with the Dodgers, that he tasted what he’d craved most within the majors, profitable the World Collection after lacking the playoffs in all six of his seasons with the Angels.
All year long, Ohtani lauded his expertise within the group. And all through Sasaki’s free company, his impressions of the membership evidently resonated with the younger pitcher.
It was sufficient to alleviate one of many few unknowable questions that accompanied the Dodgers’ pursuit of Sasaki: Would the budding ace feelplaying with the Dodgers would put him in Ohtani’s shadow, and immediate him to go someplace he may forge his personal path? Or did he view the prospect of becoming a member of forces with Ohtani, the consensus finest participant on this planet, as one other boon to his profession?
The reply got here lower than 72 hours later, when Sasaki introduced he can be in L.A..
Sasaki has but to debate his recruiting course of publicly, or how a lot the impression of Dodgers gamers swayed his choice. However inside the crew, a lot credit score has been given to the efforts of the gamers, and Ohtani and Yamamoto’s affect particularly.
“You can tell that he’ll love being around Yoshi and Shohei,” Betts advised reporters in Tokyo this week throughout a promotional tour in Japan, in response to the Related Press. “I think that will really help him a lot.”
