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"I had a good experience by recruiting Suzuki, and I will move aggressively."

Japanese magazine "Number" reported on the 6th that the Chicago Cubs are considering recruiting "up to 165km" monster Roki Sasaki Chiba Lotte Marines and "56 home runs" Murakami Munetaka Yakult Swallows.

Sasaki and Murakami represent Japan's current pitching and hitting players. Sasaki was nominated by Chiba Lotte in the first round of the rookie draft in 2019. Sasaki, who caught the attention of scouts by spraying tremendous balls in the mid and late 150 kilometers since high school, never took the mound of the first team immediately after joining the team to build a body fit for the professional level. And he took the mound for the first time in 2021 and showed his potential by posting 3-2 losses and an ERA of 2.27 in 11 games, and his potential exploded the following year.

Sasaki achieved the feat of "perfect game" against the Orix Buffaloes at the beginning of the 2022 season, recording 9 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 2.02 in 20 games. Based on this, Sasaki joined the World Baseball Classic WBC national team and recorded one win and an ERA of 3.52 in two games, contributing to Japan's "winning all games." He continued his good trend with 7 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 1.78 last year, breaking his best ball speed to 165 kilometers.

It is undeniable that he has performed well so far, but Sasaki, who has never played a full-time season due to a blister on his finger such as a chronic disease and a ruptured intraperitoneal muscle, had a conflict with Chiba Lotte over whether to advance to the Major League after the 2023 season ended. However, as he reached a dramatic agreement on salary negotiations ahead of the start of the spring camp, he also played for Chiba Lotte in the 2024 season, and got off to a good start with seven strikeouts and one run one earned run in five innings in his first appearance this season.

If Sasaki is Japan's representative mound, Murakami is the fourth batter of the Japanese national team in name and reality. Murakami was a rookie draft player in 2017 and appeared like a comet with 36 home runs in 2019. In particular, in the 2022 season, he played in 141 games, recording 155 hits, 56 homers, 134 RBIs, 114 RBIs, and a batting average of 0.318 OPS 1.168. He not only achieved the youngest triple crown in Japan's history, but also hit 56 home runs, setting a new Japanese record for most home runs in a season.

Murakami was also selected for the WBC team based on the 2022 "Career High" season and contributed greatly to Japan's victory. However, despite suffering the worst slump last year, Murakami is considered the most likely Japanese batter to play in the Major League in the future, drawing 31 arches. Murakami can try to make a big league leap through the posting system if there is demand after the 2025 season ends.

Currently, Sasaki and Murakami can be seen as players who are monopolizing the attention of major league scouts, and according to Japan's "Number," the Cubs are very interested in those who are likely to challenge the big leagues in the future. This is based on Seiya Suzuki, who signed a five-year, $85 million contract about 115 billion won in the winter of 2022-2023, and Shota Imana, who joined hands for up to $80 million about 108.2 billion won this winter, including a four-year, $53 million about 71.7 billion won and a fifth-year club option, made a very intense debut.

"Number" said, "We cannot overlook the aspect that Japanese players' brand power is steadily rising. Even if Shohei Ohtani, the two-time Major League MVP, is separate, he has a strong sense of trust in Japanese players, including a 12-year, $325 million about 439.7 billion won contract with Yoshinobu Yamamoto," he said. "A lot of attention is being paid to the Dodgers as Otani and Yamamoto move, but the Cubs, a prestigious club with the highest popularity and financial power in the major leagues, also have no intention of staying put."

According to Number, Cubs President Jed Hoyer made secret visit to Japan last year and inspected several players. In particular, he is interested in Sasaki and Murakami, who are highly likely to move after the 2025 season is over. "I can't talk about specific players, but I looked around all players who seemed like they would cross the sea. I had a great impression. If we didn't start the competition, we wouldn't have gone to Japan," Hoyer said.

The Cubs are one of the teams that has a lot of relationship with Japanese players. Starting with Kosuke Fukudome in 2008, Kusuke Taguchi, Keiji Fujikawa, Hisanori Takahashi, Tsuyoshi Wada, Munenori Kawasaki, Koji Uehara, and Yu Darvish wore the Cubs' uniforms. Hoyer was also the one who led the recruitment of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, and Junichi batter and batter when he was with the Boston Red Sox. Hoyer declared, "We had a great experience by recruiting Suzuki, and we will actively move forward."

"Number" said, "President Hoyer understands the sincerity of Japanese players, and his stance has not changed since he continues scouting rather than just pursuing immediate results. When Imanaga was hired last year, he participated in the game just before the posting deadline and won the contract, outpacing leading teams. Tom Ricketts, the owner of the Scare, expressed his enthusiasm for rebuilding the team after the end of the last season," and Hoyer reiterated that he will participate in recruiting more players. [토토사이트

U.S. local media are predicting that if Sasaki challenges the Major League, he will most likely become the Dodgers as the ultimate winner. However, the Cubs, which have shown great interest in recruiting Sasaki and Murakami, can also become strong contenders. Will the Cubs, which have continuously recruited Japanese players over the past two years, be able to secure one more Sasaki or Murakami? What is certain is that the Cubs are serious about strengthening their capacity.