Cardinals, Yankees, Dodgers Reportedly Interested In Signing Young Ace

St. Louis could look to land the phenom in the near future

Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium / Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals may be interested in making a major splash next offseason.

St. Louis's starting rotation still is its biggest question mark. The Cardinals went out and added some reinforcements this past offseason, but they still have some work to do.

The Cardinals' biggest signing certainly was three-time All-Star Sonny Gray, but they likely will need to make another major addition ahead of the trade deadline or next offseason if the club wants to be contenders.

One player who already is catching the eye of Major League Baseball clubs is young ace, Rōki Sasaki. The 22-year-old pitches for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball and already has made it known he wants to make the jump to the big leagues soon.

It's unclear where he will eventually land -- although the Los Angeles Dodgers already are considered the favorites -- but the Cardinals also reportedly sent a representative to scout the young phenom according to MLB Trade Rumors' Leo Morgenstern.

"Eight (Major League Baseball) teams sent representatives to watch NPB ace Rōki Sasaki's latest start, according to articles from Sports Hochi and Yahoo Japan, as relayed by Dylan Hernández of The Los Angeles Times and Andy Martino of SNY, respectively," Morgenstern said. "Among those teams were the (New York Yankees), (New York Mets), Dodgers, and Cardinals.

"Sasaki is just 22 years old and already one of the best pitchers in Japan. Over three NPB seasons, he has thrown 283 2/3 innings with 376 strikeouts and a 2.00 ERA. The ace made headlines last winter when he reportedly asked to be posted for MLB teams well ahead of the typical timeline – MLB does not allow players under 25 years old and with fewer than six professional seasons to sign anything more than a minor league contract."

St. Louis showed interest in fellow phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto but missed out on him. It sounds like the club at least will attempt to join the eventual sweepstakes for Sasaki too.

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