The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Roki Sasaki to his first Major League contract on Friday. At 23 years old, Sasaki joins the defending champions with a lot of hype.

Their rotation is full of ace-caliber pitchers, their lineup is topped by three MVPs and the expectations are enormous. Ahead of a much-hyped rookie season with the Dodgers, we have the Roki Sasaki bold predictions.

The Dodgers won the World Series with a very thin starting rotation due to injuries. Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw were hurt, joining Shohei Ohtani as unavailable pitchers in October.

That left Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the only true starters left and they still won the title. Now, they have more starter depth than any team in the majors. That factors into Saski’s bold predictions, as he won’t be leaned on as much as he would have been elsewhere.

With so much conversation around Saski this offseason, he has expectations to live up to. Here are our Roki Sasaki bold predictions ahead of his first season with the Dodgers.

Roki Sasaki makes 20 starts for the Dodgers

The Dodgers boast a rotation with Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell already on it.

Three bona fide aces were apparently not enough for Los Angeles, as they added Sasaki, who many believe to be just as good. While we have not seen it at the Major League level yet, his World Baseball Classic numbers back that up. Because of those great numbers, Sasaki will be leaned on to make at least 20 starts for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers had only two pitchers make 20 starts last year in Gavin Stone and Glasnow. Everyone else was hurt for large chunks of the season and did not reach that plateau.

But Sasaki will be the youngest member of the rotation and should stay healthy for the majority of the year. He will also be good enough to keep in the rotation and not have to be moved to the bullpen.

A top-ten finish in Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting

The National League is loaded with elite talent. After losing to the Dodgers in the NLCS, the Mets got better by adding Juan Soto.

The Padres are returning most of their star-studded lineup and the Diamondbacks have a new ace in Corbin Burnes. But Sasaki will impress awards voters in his first season and finish top ten in Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting.

The competition for Cy Young will be fierce in the National League. Chris Sale just won his first award and could be going for a second but has competition on his own team in Spencer Strider.

Zach Wheeler of the Phillies has put together a few solid seasons without a Cy Young. And Burnes just finished second in the American League. Sasaki won’t win, but he’ll earn enough votes to finish top ten.

The NL Rookie of the Year race last year was a triple-header of dominant seasons. Paul Skenes beat out Jackson Merrill and Jackson Churio to snag the award and Sasaki will look to make it back-to-back for pitchers.

Nationals’ outfielder Dylan Crews is MLB.com’s top prospect and Pirates pitcher Bubba Chandler could make it two in a row for Pittsburgh. Sasaki will be firmly in that mix.

The rookie wins multiple postseason games

The Dodgers will almost certainly be back in the postseason in 2025. Their All-Star Game-caliber roster would have to collapse to not grab one of six postseason bids in the National League.

When they do, Roki Sasaki will be an entrenched member of the starting rotation. The rookie will win at least two October starts for the Dodgers this year.

When September comes around, Dave Roberts will be put in the enviable spot of making the Dodgers’ playoff rotation.

When he does, Sasaki should be in serious consideration for a spot in that rotation. It will be difficult to send someone like Glasnow or Snell to the bullpen, but they might have to do it to go with a three-man rotation.

Roki Sasaki gives the Dodgers another level of depth that cannot be matched in all of baseball.

Our bold predictions forsee a great rookie season in LA for the new star.