THere are no hitters. There are perfect games. And there’s the kind of virtuosity that Rōki Sasaki managed to summon for an unforgettable two and a half hours on Sunday afternoon at the Zozo Marine Stadium outside of Tokyo.
Sasaki, a right-handed flamethrower for Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chiba Lotte Marines, pulled off one of the rarest feats in his sport when he withdrew at least 27 batsmen in a 6-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes without allowing an opposing player to to reach base, setting a record with 19 strikeouts in just 105 pitches. Even more remarkable, he’s still only 20 and grew up amid the debris of the 2011 tsunami, after his home and several family members were swept away by the floodwaters.
It was only the 16th perfect match in NPB history and the first in 28 years, but somehow that manages to undercut the quality of Sasaki’s masterpiece. There is Sabermetric-backed reason to believe The silence of the Pacific League champions this Sunday could be the greatest game ever played.
After coaxing two groundouts to open the game, Sasaki beat two-time reigning Pacific League batting champion Masataka Yoshida to his first strikeout of the day. He then hit the side in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings to set a record 13 consecutive strikeouts and crush Japan’s 64-year-old mark of nine. (No pitcher in Major League Baseball has ever fanned more than 10 in a row.)
Sasaki continued to charge through the Orix lineup into the later innings, overpowering the hitters with a fastball that averaged nearly 100 mph while puzzled them with one devastating low 90s sliver that falls off the table as soon as it reaches home plate.
On every pitch called by catcher Kō Matsukawa, an 18-year-old fresh out of high school, the imperious Sasaki calmly whipped past the thrashing buffalo. He hit the side again on the eighth, and then Sasaki unrolled his beanstalk frame to the last batter for the 105th and final time, fooling reigning Pacific League home run king Yutaro Sugimoto with a diving forkball for his 19th strikeout. He equaled the NPB single game record and sparked a wild celebration near Pitcher’s Mound.
“This is the greatest thing,” said a beaming Sasaki after the Japanese news agency Kyodo. “Honestly, I didn’t think about the possibility [of a perfect game]. I figured it would be okay if I gave up a shot, so I just served and relied on Matsukawa to the end.”
Roki Sasaki attributes his historic perfect game to his 18-year-old catcher, Kou Matsukawa pic.twitter.com/qJgwCK3L1b
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@baseballcosmo) April 10, 2022
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It was a long journey for Sasaki, whose father and grandparents were killed and his house swept away beim Tōhoku-Tsunami that engulfed Japan’s northeast coast when he was in elementary school. It’s a tragedy that understandably hasn’t let go of him.
“It’s been 11 years, but I can’t just erase the pain and sadness I felt then,” Sasaki said said last month. “Thanks to the support I had, I was able to devote myself to baseball. I just have feelings of gratitude to those who have supported me.”
During his headline-grabbing career at Ofunato High School, he was courted by scouts from at least 20 of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams and opted for a contract with the Marines, who selected him overall ahead of the 2020 season in the amateur draft in October. He didn’t appear in his first year at the club while “physically preparing” – a rarity for a No.1 pick that made him a target of critics – but he went 3-2 with 68 strikeouts, 16 Walks and a 2.27 earned a running average in 11 appearances during his debut campaign last year. And now this: the first perfect game in NPB since Hiromi Makihara of the Yomiuri Giants on May 18, 1994.
His sudden rise to international fame after Sunday’s competition – Sasaki’s name (#Roki Sasaki) was trending around the world on Twitter for several hours afterwards – coming at a time when Japanese gamers are breaking into the US mainstream like never before. This week, Shohei Ohtani, the two-way LA Angels star with unique skillset who won last year’s AL Most Valuable Player award, became the first baseball player to do so in nearly two decades appear on the cover of Time Magazine. And Seiya Suzuki, longtime Hiroshima Toyo Carp outfielder who joined the Chicago Cubs in March on a five-year, $85 million contract, is a historically stormy start in one of America’s largest markets.
Sasaki, who hails from the same Iwate Prefecture as Ohtani, will no doubt have US fans drooling in anticipation of whether he will follow his lead. But thanks to the Byzantine postal system between MLB and NPB, which effectively discourages the world’s best players from coming to the US ASAP, they could wait a long time.
Japanese players signing with NPB clubs must have nine years of professional experience before signing as international free agents on the open market. A limitation of the system would allow Sasaki to transfer up to three years early, but he won’t be able to maximize his income until he turns 25 or finishes his sixth season in Japan. Bottom line: Unless he’s willing to play below fair market value, and that’s assuming the Marines honor his request for an early release, it’s unlikely his Major League Baseball debut will come before 2027.
But while MLB fans must dream about the future, Sasaki is focused on what he can produce now.
“Reality is slowly starting to sink in. I spent last night immersing myself in the experience,” he said Monday. “This mark in history will always remain. A player is expected to perform throughout the season so I switch gears and keep going.”
