Lotte Marines pitching sensation Roki Sasaki has placed first in the fan voting for the Pacific League's starting pitcher for the July 19-20 Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star games, according to the interim results released Monday by NPB.
The 21-year-old right-hander, who has a 3-0 record with a 0.84 ERA in five starts so far this season, leads second-placed Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto 15,256 to 9,810 votes. Sasaki threw a perfect game in April 2022 against the Buffaloes.
Game 1 will be played at Vantelin Dome Nagoya on July 19 and Game 2 at Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium the next day.
Sasaki and five other members of Japan's World Baseball Classic-winning team have taken the lead in their respective categories.
With 26,374, Buffaloes catcher Tomoya Mori has drawn more votes than any other player in either league. Hanshin Tigers outfielder Koji Chikamoto was the Central League's top vote-getter with 25,227.
The voting will end on June 18, with the final results to be announced 10 days later. The complete rosters will be set on July 14 after players are added by the CL and PL All-Star team managers.
