Magic Johnson Gave Roki Sasaki Incredible Gift After Joining Dodgers
There was no shortage of talent when the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series.
Things have been looking exponentially brighter for L.A. after yet another successful offseason.
The Dodgers brought back Teoscar Hérnandez, signed infielder and four-time Gold Glove award winner in the Korea Baseball Organization Hyeseong Kim, and signed Cy Young award-winning pitcher Blake Snell for the foreseeable future.
Friday, Los Angeles made another roster-altering move signing Roki Sasaki to a minor league deal after a long-awaited decision.
Read more: Dodgers Sign LHP Tanner Scott to Massive Contract in Blockbuster Deal
In an offseason like no other, full of ‘unspecified homework assignments’ and international bonus pool money, Sasaki chose Los Angeles. His final three teams in contention with L.A. were the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays.
At 23-years-old, the phenom makes a move not just to Los Angeles, but to the storied history of the team. The Dodgers are not just defending champions, but with eight rings and two cities telling the franchise’s story.
A man who is no stranger to being a young phenom moving to Los Angeles, and knows first-hand what it’s like to be winning championships for the city, is none other than Dodgers part-owner Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson.
Johnson was one of the first to publicly congratulate Sasaki on his signing via X, formerly known as Twitter, Friday evening.
Johnson gifted Sasaki a signed jersey from his playing days with his autograph and career accolades written on the iconic No. 32 Johnson wore as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Similar to Sasaki, Johnson’s reputation preceded his long-awaited arrival to California. Johnson, three years younger than Sasaki when he joined the Lakers, was fresh off of an NCAA National Championship with Michigan State.
That season, Johnson led the Lakers to an NBA title and even took home NBA Finals MVP honors.
Sasaki in his four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball went 29-15 with a 2.10 ERA. He added 505 blistering strikeouts to only 88 walks over his 394.2 innings pitched.
Dodger fans can only hope that Sasaki has a similar career arc to Johnson as they already share many similarities, but once again this offseason, the future looks bright for L.A.
More news: Joe Kelly Sounds Off on MLB Fans Complaining About Dodgers’ Spending in Epic Rant
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, livestreams, and more!
