Roki Sasaki is one of the most highly touted available pitchers this offseason, and he’s never thrown a pitch in MLB. During his four seasons playing in Japan, the 23-year-old posted a 2.02 ERA across 69 games.

Scouts have expressed his potential to become a top-of-the-line starter for whichever team he signs with. Multiple teams will be in the sweepstakes for the young right-hander, and many think the Los Angeles Dodgers will grab him. However, Ken Rosenthal listed the New York Mets as one of the favorites to land Sasaki. We’ve seen Steve Cohen bring in Kodai Senga from Japan and offer Yoshinnonu Yamamoto $325 million, so there’s no question they’ll be heavily in on the sweepstakes.

The Mets brought back Sean Manaea on a three-year deal, but they’re still in dire need of starting pitching. Right now, Senga and Manaea are the only top-end starters they have. The 2023 National League All-Star only appeared in one regular season game in 2024, so they could certainly use another top arm just in case he gets hurt again. David Peterson is coming off a great season, and the Mets will rely on him to do it again. The lefty posted a 2.90 ERA in 2024.

Outside of those three, they’re hoping Frankie Montas can be a reclamation project and taking a risk turning Clay Holmes into a starter.

Since getting hired as the Mets President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns hasn’t been one to sign veteran pitchers to long-term deals. However, he loves young pitching. The offer to Yamamoto proved that. Sasaki will pitch the entire season of 2025 at 23-years-old. That said, he will undoubtedly make an effort to convince Sasaki to come to Queens.

The Mets could be an ideal fit for Sasaki

Sasaki would give the Mets exactly what they need. Their lineup has a ton of star power after signing Juan Soto to the largest contract in professional sports.

New York has a very intriguing top-of-the-order with Soto, Francisco Lindor, Mark Vientos, and Brandon Nimmo. Run prevention is just as important as scoring runs. Bringing in the Japanese star would put the Mets right up there with the Dodgers.

A rotation of Sasaki, Manaea, Senga, Peterson, Montas, and Holmes would give the Mets one of the top rotations in baseball. If one of those guys goes down with an injury, they still have Jose Butto, Paul Blackburn, and Tylor Megill as depth pieces. It seems unthinkable that one player could change the whole outlook of a team, but Sasaki has that potential with the Mets.

Over the winter meetings, Sasaki’s agent praised the Mets pitching coach, Jeremy Hefner. That said, it could be an advantage for New York in the sweepstakes for the young arm. On top of that, the 23-year-old would be the headline guy in the Mets rotation.

Whereas the Dodgers already have a ton of top-end starters in Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Yamamoto. If Sasaki wants to be the guy, Queens could be the perfect option for him.