Major League Baseball's new international amateur free-agent signing cycle opened Wednesday, meaning that Japanese ace Roki Sasaki will soon make his long-awaited free-agent decision over the coming days.

Roki Sasaki can sign with Major League Baseball teams during a nine-day window starting Wednesday, an unusual free agency that caused a domino effect among Latin American teenagers whose unofficial agreements are on hold pending his decision.

The Detroit Tigers didn't try to sign Shohei Ohtani in 2017. A lot has changed since then, exemplified by an attempt to sign Roki Sasaki in 2024-25.

The Mets have been in a verbal agreement to sign the No. 2 international prospect Elian Peña out of the Dominican Republic — Sasaki is No. 1. With their international bonus pool money, $6,261,600, according to Baseball America, set to replenish Wednesday, they’ll have enough to officially sign Peña.

Wednesday marks the open of MLB's 2025 international signing period, one of two ways major-league teams acquire amateur talent each year. The annual July draft covers players born in the United States,