Because he is enormously talented, Roki Sasaki(s abandoning Japan’s major leagues for America’s has unleashed a flood of observations from both Japan and the United States.
While these observations tell us precious little about the 24-year-old pitcher himself, they do tell us a whole lot about America and Japan, how attitudes and expectations differ, and how both societies encourage us to overlook the value of individual choice.
Prelude: Baseball stuff
Because people ask me, I can tell you a few things about how Roki Sasaki pitched in 2024 In terms of how each pitch affected opponents’ run expectation and adjusted for his team’s offensive context.
- His fastball was more effective than it has ever been, even if his velocity was down, and he got fewer swings and misses and foul strikes.
- His slider was more effective than his splitter this year as he mastered a slower (sweeper) with more glove-side break.
- The split that had been one of the most effective thrown in Japan in 2022 and 2023, was not elite in 2024, with Japan’s best split this year thrown by a pitcher who should be available to MLB teams after the 2026 season – Carter Stewart Jr.
Sasaki throws extremely hard with an almost effortless-looking delivery, and has had trouble maintaining his place in a once-a-week six-pitcher starting rotation for more than about six weeks at a time. All that was known.
But what Sasaki’s posting has really done is give us a refresher course on how many in Japan and America see not only baseball through the lens of their cultural perspective but also how they judge an individual’s actions.
Different worlds
Sasaki’s move to MLB means different things in Japan and the United States.
In the U.S. it means a veteran of four major league seasons will miraculously become–to those unaccustomed to a world where everything is not all about America–a first-year major leaguer. In Japan, it is seen as a sign that the world respects Japanese pro baseball–even if that respect is just MLB’s coveting players under contract with Japan’s major league teams.
Continue reading What Roki Sasaki is really teaching us
