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The Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball announced Saturday that they will begin the process of posting Sasaki, paving the way for him to pitch in MLB in 2025, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports.
Once Sasaki is officially posted, he will have a 45-day window to sign with a major-league team. While the Dodgers are considered the strong favorites to sign the 23-year-old righty, Passan says the assumption that Sasaki will end up with the Dodgers is "premature," and mentions the Padres, Cubs, Rangers, Blue Jays, Rays and both New York teams as other potential landing spots. Sasaki has never reached 130 innings in a season and lost a bit of velocity this year, but even if he doesn't regain some of that zip, he could still be one of the hardest-throwing starters in MLB. He has pitched to a 2.02 ERA in his four professional seasons.