Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto Recruited Roki Sasaki Over Dinner Before He Made Decision
Having dinner with former teammates wasn’t something new for Roki Sasaki — but this specific dinner was different.
On this night in December, Sasaki sat down for sushi with former Samurai Japan teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It was after he had his initial meeting with the Dodgers and just at the beginning of the 23-year-old’s transition to Major League Baseball.
The topics discussed are unknown, according to The LA Times, but clearly, Ohtani and Yamamoto did a great job in recruiting.
“They wanted him to know how much they were looking forward to having him join them. They wanted him to hear the message,” someone told Jack Harris of the LA Times. “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.”
More news: Shohei Ohtani Informed Dodgers Brass They Landed Roki Sasaki Before It Was Made Official
When the process began, Sasaki didn’t want players involved. In fact, his agent Joel Wolfe told teams that current players were not welcome at the first round of meetings. The playing fielded needed to be even and teams were tasked with creating a presentation to identify why they thought Sasaki’s fastball velocity dipped in Japan last year.
“It was a great opportunity for the teams to really show what they specialize in,” Wolfe told reporters in December. “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.”
The Dodgers impressed Sasaki with their “homework assignment” which landed them another in-person meeting, and this time around, Ohtani and several other teammates sat around the table with Sasaki giving their best pitches for him to sign with Los Angeles over the other finalists.
“Shohei and Yoshi were very helpful, very influential, very involved with him on a personal level,” Harris was told.
Just 72 hours after that meeting, Sasaki announced he would be joining the Dodgers. Much of the credit has been given to Ohtani and Yamamoto.
“You can tell that he’ll love being around Yoshi and Shohei,” Mookie Betts said in Tokyo this week. “I think that will really help him a lot.”
More news: Mookie Betts Opens Up on Dodgers Signing Roki Sasaki, Meeting With Japanese Star
Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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