On April 28, 2023, Sasaki threw 4 pitches at a speed of 165 km/h (102.5 mph), which tied the record of the fastest pitch thrown in NPB history (alongside Shohei Ohtani). He finished the season 9–4 with a 2.02 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 129 + 1⁄ 3 innings pitched. Sasaki allowed a hit on the first pitch that he threw in his next game, on April 24. The MLB record for retiring consecutive batters is 46 by Yusmeiro Petit. Sasaki finished the outing having retired 52 consecutive batters, setting an NPB record. He recorded 14 strikeouts on 102 pitches, including striking out the side in the eighth inning with a 101 mph fastball. In his next start, on April 17, Sasaki pitched eight perfect innings against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, before getting taken out from the game before the ninth inning by manager Tadahito Iguchi to protect Sasaki's health. This also became a new world record, beating out the 10 consecutive strikeouts achieved in MLB by Corbin Burnes, Tom Seaver, and Aaron Nola. Sasaki tied the NPB record set by Koji Noda for total strikeouts in one game, with 19, and set a new NPB record for consecutive strikeouts, having struck out 13 batters in a row. It was the 16th perfect game in NPB history, the first since Hiromi Makihara's perfect game in 1994, and the 94th no-hitter in NPB history, the first since August 15, 2020. On April 10, 2022, Sasaki pitched a perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes. Sasaki made his postseason debut for the Marines in the 2021 Pacific League Climax Series, striking out 10 batters while allowing one run in six innings, as Lotte defeated the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. For the 2021 season, Sasaki had a 3–2 win-loss record, a 2.27 earned run average (ERA), and 68 strikeouts in 63 + 1⁄ 3 innings pitched across 11 appearances. To protect his arm, the Marines did not allow Sasaki to appear in a game during the 2020 season. He received a signing bonus of ¥100 million ( US$911,161.73). Professional career Īfter four teams attempted to select Sasaki in the 2019 NPB draft, the Chiba Lotte Marines of NPB's Pacific League won the lottery for the rights to the first overall selection, and selected Sasaki. Sasaki announced that he would pitch in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), declaring for the NPB draft. Sasaki's manager rested him in the qualifying game where Ofunato was eliminated, drawing criticism. Major League Baseball (MLB) teams hoped that Sasaki would pursue an MLB career, but he opted to remain with his high school team during the Japanese High School Baseball Championship. His nickname is a reference to Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was known as "the Monster of the Heisei Era". His fastball velocity broke the Japanese high school record set by Shohei Ohtani, and Sasaki began to earn comparisons to Ohtani. He was nicknamed "the Monster of the Reiwa Era" ( Reiwa no Kaibutsu 令和の怪物) because of his 163-kilometre-per-hour (101 mph) fastball in high school. Though Sasaki was recruited by other high schools, he chose to attend Ofunato High School to remain with his teammates. ![]() The family moved to Ōfunato the next year and Sasaki began to play baseball at his new school. His father and grandparents died, and Sasaki, his mother, and his two brothers had to live in a nursing home during the recovery. ![]() The resulting tsunami swept away his house. He was in the third grade during the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. Born in 2001, he was named after the villain Rouki from Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger, a Super Sentai show that was aired in the same year. Sasaki is from Rikuzentakata in the Iwate Prefecture. He threw a perfect game on April 10, 2022, in which he tied the NPB record for strikeouts in one game and set a new record for consecutive strikeouts. ![]() Taking care to avoid subjecting their rookie to premature physical stresses, the Marines held back until the 2021 season before allowing him to make his NPB debut. The Marines chose Sasaki in the first overall selection of the 2019 NPB draft. Sasaki set a new Japanese high school baseball record with a fastball recorded at 163 kilometres per hour (101 mph). Rōki Sasaki ( 佐々木 朗希, Sasaki Rōki, born November 3, 2001), nicknamed " the Monster of the Reiwa Era" ( 令和の怪物, reiwa no kaibutsu) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
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