Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (24) made a surprise marriage announcement during spring training. Coincidentally, the Dodgers have seen a Japanese player make a surprise marriage announcement for two consecutive years during spring training.
Sasaki announced on the 22nd (Korean time) on his social media with a photo of two Dodgers hats placed side by side, saying "report."
He noted, "Thank you for always cheering for me. Recently, I registered with an ordinary woman. I am filled with expectations and concerns about this new beginning, both publicly and privately, but we will work hard together as a couple. I hope you will kindly watch over us."
According to Japanese media, Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, congratulated Sasaki on his marriage during a media interview before spring training on the 22nd.
Roberts expressed surprise to reporters, saying, "Roki got married? What?" and jokingly added, "Isn’t there an implicit rule that one player must get married each spring training?" He mentioned that Sasaki followed Shohei Ohtani’s lead, who announced his marriage at camp last year.
Sasaki informed the Dodgers team of his marriage news before practice that day. It is reported that his Japanese teammates, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, also learned about it for the first time.
Before last season, Ohtani signed a free agent contract with the Dodgers worth $700 million over 10 years, and he made headlines by announcing his marriage via social media during spring training. After the marriage announcement, Ohtani attended the 2024 Major League Baseball opening series in Seoul against the San Diego Padres with his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, and received the spotlight.
From joining the Dodgers to making a surprise marriage announcement, Sasaki is closely following the path of his senior, Ohtani. This year, the Dodgers will hold the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season opening series Tokyo series against the Chicago Cubs on March 18-19 at Tokyo Dome. It will be watched whether Sasaki will publicly reveal his wife at the Tokyo series, like Ohtani did last year.
Roberts stated, "I congratulate Sasaki on his marriage. I will give a wedding gift later when I meet his wife."
Sasaki, who joined Chiba Lotte Marines in 2019, achieved the youngest perfect game in history in 2023 and recorded 29 wins and 15 losses with an earned run average of 2.10 over 64 games in Japan until last year.
Last winter, he attempted to enter the United States through posting and received interest from 20 teams. Sasaki could not make a large contract due to having international amateur free agent status under 25 years of age. He signed a minor league contract worth $6.5 million with the Dodgers.
/orange@osen.co.kr
[OSEN=글렌데일(미국), 한용섭 기자]