CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #431
Rakuten Monkeys News: Sakakibara Motoki
On March 17, the Rakuten Monkeys announced the signing of 25-year-old Japanese right-hander Sakakibara Motoki (榊原元稀) to a development contract for the 2026 CPBL season.
According to the team, Sakakibara Motoki shows strong potential, featuring a wide variety of pitches with consistent command. The Monkeys organisation hopes he will continue to develop within their farm system.
Additional Notes: Under current CPBL regulations, a development player can only pitch in the minor league and is not required to meet the league’s minimum salary or benefits standards. In other words, development players are essentially treated as trainees.
Over the past two seasons (2024–25), Sakakibara Motoki has played in Japan’s Baseball Challenge League (BC League), an independent league, pitching for the Gunma Diamond Pegasus. In 2025, Sakakibara Motoki posted a strong 2.18 ERA, with 73 strikeouts and 17 walks over 103.1 innings. That performance earned Sakakibara Motoki the 2025 BC League Pitcher of the Year award.
With the signing of Sakakibara Motoki (development player), the Rakuten Monkeys currently have Pedro Fernández (2-year deal), Kyle Marman, Morgan McSweeney and Tyler Eppler 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.