Roki Sasaki (Japanese: 佐々木 朗希, Hepburn: Sasaki Rōki; born November 3, 2001) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "The Monster of the Reiwa Era" (令和の怪物, Reiwa no Kaibutsu), he had previously played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Chiba Lotte Marines. He made his NPB debut in 2021 for the Marines. Sasaki set a new Japanese high school baseball record with a fastball recorded at 101 miles per hour (163 km/h). The Marines chose Sasaki with the first overall pick of the 2019 NPB draft, although he would not make his NPB debut until 2021. He threw a perfect game on April 10, 2022, in which he tied the NPB record for strikeouts in one game and set a new record for consecutive strikeouts. Following the end of the 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Sasaki was posted by the Marines and was signed by the Dodgers, making his MLB debut during the 2025 season. He won his first World Series title the same year, as the Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in seven games.
Source: “Roki Sasaki”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt