Tokyo (AFP) – Roki Sasaki is Major League Baseball’s hottest new star, but he had to struggle through adversity to get there, losing his father and grandparents in Japan’s deadly 2011 tsunami. The 23-year-old pitcher, who has agreed to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, is regarded as one of baseball’s best young talents, and news that he would leave Japan for MLB this winter sparked a bidding frenzy around the league.
His journey to the majors has been a tragic one, starting when his world was turned upside down 14 years ago at the age of nine. Sasaki’s hometown of Rikuzentakata was virtually wiped off the map when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake sent huge waves barreling towards Japan’s coast. His house was washed away, and both of his paternal grandparents and his father, Kota, were killed. Sasaki and his mother and two brothers lost everything, and they were forced to live temporarily in a nursing home until they moved to a nearby city. It was there that the family began to pick up the pieces, with Sasaki finding some peace of mind on the pitcher’s mound.
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“I was happiest when I was playing baseball,” he said 10 years on from the disaster. “I could lose myself in the game and fight hard against the tough times. I’m glad I started playing baseball.” Sasaki was at school when the tsunami struck, and he and his classmates survived by climbing to higher ground. Around 18,500 people around Japan were left dead or missing in the disaster, which also triggered a meltdown at Fukushima nuclear plant. “You never know when the life you take for granted can disappear; that’s the scary thing,” Sasaki later said.
Sasaki went on to become a high school star and was taken by the Chiba Lotte Marines as the number one pick in the 2019 Nippon Professional Baseball draft. Already on MLB clubs’ radar, he made the world sit up and take notice when he pitched a perfect game at the age of 20 in April 2022.
He set a new Japanese baseball record with 13 consecutive strikeouts and completed only the 16th perfect game in NPB history, and the first since 1994. A perfect game is when no opposing batter reaches base, and no pitcher has ever achieved the feat twice. Sasaki very nearly did it in his next outing, delivering eight perfect innings before being pulled by his coach to protect his arm. Showing maturity as well as talent, Sasaki said he understood his coach’s decision, admitting, “I was getting a bit tired.”
Sasaki was again in the spotlight a year later as part of Japan’s title-winning 2023 World Baseball Classic team. On the 12-year anniversary of the disaster that upended his life, he was the starting pitcher against the Czech Republic at Tokyo Dome and led his team to a 10-2 win. Afterwards, Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said Sasaki’s performance was “about more than just the speed he was throwing.” “It was like he was putting his soul into every pitch,” he said.
Sasaki threw a 102.5 mph fastball during a World Baseball Classic warm-up game, fractionally faster than new Dodgers teammate Shohei Ohtani’s best effort. But Sasaki has also had issues with injuries and endured a difficult season in 2024, with his performances on the mound taking a dip. The news that he was being made available for MLB clubs still sparked a league-wide stampede to sign him.
Now that he has joined the Dodgers, he hopes to inspire a new generation of children and give back to baseball what it gave to him. “Lots of people supported me 10 years ago and gave me the courage and hope to keep going,” he said on the 10-year anniversary of the disaster. “Now it’s up to me to give others courage and hope. I hope I can do that through my performances.”
© 2024 AFP
