Japanese Phenom Compared to Former Washington Nationals Superstar As Prospect

The next Japanese phenom is drawing comparisons to a former Washington Nationals Great as a prospect.

Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The baseball world is abuzz about which MLB team Japanese ace Roki Sasaki will sign with, which is causing people to remember just how special of a pitching prospect he is.

As ESPN's MLB staff broke down everything known about Sasaki and his free agency, a familiar name to the Washington Nationals popped up.

When speaking on exactly why the phenom is so coveted, David Schoenfield pointed to Stephen Strasburg and Paul Skenes as the last two pitching prospects that had so much hype around them.

Strasburg was the first overall selection in the 2009 MLB draft by Washington, which is when he officially took over the baseball world.

The former San Diego State Aztecs pitcher had dominated NCAA competition for years. During his final season, he led the Aztecs to the regionals with a 1.32 ERA over 14 starts.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't spent very long pitching in the minor leagues. He made his now famous MLB debut in 2010, which kicked off a run of dominance.

Through the 2019 season, he stayed as one of the best pitches in baseball. From his debut to then, he boasted a 3.17 career ERA and just 1.086 WHIP. He also struck out 10.9 batters per nine innings.

Of course, it is impossible to mention Strasburg without talking about how his career finished. He signed a massive seven-year, $245 million deal with the Nationals before the start of the 2020 season.

Over the following three years, he pitched only 31.1 innings and had a 6.89 ERA. He is now retired and bogging down the Washington payroll for a few more years.

It is not hard to see the comparisons to be made between Strasburg and Sasaki, at least as figures of the sport.

Sasaki started playing professional baseball very young and is going to have one of the most-watched debuts in recent memory. The same could be said about Skenes, which is why the three pitchers are often mentioned together.

The 23-year-old has a career 2.02 ERA over four seasons and 414.2 innings of baseball overseas. Like Strasburg, he strikes batters out at a high rate.

His domination of Japanese hitting can be compared to, albeit more impressive than, Strasburg's early results in college and the minors.

Now, the baseball world will see how it translates to the Majors. Sasaki is going to sign with his first MLB team within the coming days. The finalists are down to the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.