Roki Sasaki’s Teammate Says Dodgers Have ‘Upper Hand’ for Japanese Star
Dallas Keuchel, the 2015 American League Cy Young winner, spent over two months with the Chiba Lotte Marines. During Keuchel’s stint with the NPB team, he discovered the greatness of Roki Sasaki.
Sasaki’s teammate all but confirmed the Los Angeles Dodgers are the favorite to sign the Japanese phenom in a conversation with the New York Post.
“I heard some, some rumblings about a done deal with the Dodgers — you know, having a plan for him,” Keuchel told Joel Sherman of the New York Post. “And if I was Vegas, I would definitely put them as the favorite, but I don’t know. We never really talked about that.”
Keuchel also addressed the odds of the New York Yankees and New York Mets signing Sasaki, but stressed the legacy with Japanese pitchers is deeper with the Dodgers.
“We talked about those two East Coast teams. I just think the Dodgers have the upper hand just because of Shohei (Ohtani), (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto, and even (Yu) Darvish pitching there for that playoff run in ’17. Anywhere you went [in Japan], the Dodgers were on TV in the morning, just because of those guys. So we briefly spoke about the pinstripes and about the Mets, but really, there was no central team that we talked about.”
It’s evident the Dodgers are the most popular MLB team in Japan. From Hideo Nomo to Yu Darvish, the Dodgers have had some of the best Japanese pitchers take the mound in Los Angeles.
However, Keuchel believes Sasaki has the potential to surpass them all. After spending two-plus months with the 23-year-old pitcher, he is thoroughly convinced that Sasaki will do great things in the majors.
And after what Keuchel saw in Japan, it’s all but confirmed Sasaki will end up in a Dodgers uniform.
“I saw some Yankees hats, but everywhere it was the ‘D’ for Dodgers on shirts and hats,” Keuchel said of his stint in Japan.
Whether Sasaki chooses to sign with Los Angeles, it’s clear that Dodger blue is a popular color overseas.
Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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