Roki Sasaki — Career

Roki Sasaki's NPB career with the Chiba Lotte Marines (2019–2024) stands as one of the most dominant pitching runs in modern Japanese baseball history. After being drafted first overall in 2019 from Ofunato High School in Iwate, he sat out his first professional season under a careful development plan. He made his debut in 2020, then steadily progressed: a 2.27 ERA in 19 starts in 2021, and a 2.02 ERA in 20 starts in 2022. On April 10, 2022, Sasaki threw a perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes at age 20 years, 4 months — retiring all 27 batters with 13 strikeouts to become the youngest perfect game pitcher in NPB history. Remarkably, he followed that with 8⅔ perfect innings in his very next start before giving up a hit — an unprecedented back-to-back run of perfection that cemented his "Monster of the Reiwa Era" nickname. In 2023, he represented Japan at the WBC and pitched a crucial late-inning stint in the championship game against the U.S. alongside Shohei Ohtani, helping Japan win the title. That same NPB season he posted a 1.78 ERA over 22 starts. His final NPB season in 2024 was his best: 1.09 ERA, 174 strikeouts, and a 23-start run that ranks among the finest single seasons in Japanese baseball history. His NPB career totals — 95 appearances, 1.85 ERA, 11.96 K/9 — are simply without peer in the modern era.