CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #439
Rakuten Monkeys News: Sakakibara Motoki
Note: This transaction move is technically called a “de-registration from the active roster”, but for the sake of readability, I will use the term “release” throughout the rest of this article.
On July 6, the Rakuten Monkeys announced the release of Sakakibara Motoki (榊原元稀). The 25-year-old Japanese right-hander was originally signed as a development player and had only a very brief stint with the CPBL first team. He appeared in just 1 game, posting a 1.50 ERA and 0.67 WHIP over 6 innings.
Despite the release, the team said Sakakibara Motoki will remain with the Monkeys’ 2nd team as a development player. As of today, he has compiled a 6.10 ERA and 1.54 WHIP over 48.2 innings in the CPBL minor league.
Under current CPBL regulations, once a foreign player has been de-registered, he is no longer eligible to be called up to the first team and can only play for the 2nd team for the remainder of the season.
With the de-registration of Sakakibara Motoki from the active roster and return to development player status, the Rakuten Monkeys currently have Pedro Fernández (2-year deal), Kyle Marman, Tyler Eppler, Sakakibara Motoki [development player] and Ronnie Dawson as their group of foreign players for the 2026 CPBL season.
Further Readings
Foreign players come and go. Therefore, we have compiled a foreign player tracker, and I’ll be updating that list regularly to keep pace with the ever-changing roster shuffle throughout the 2026 CPBL season.