“To be that he knows he has to challenge himself. ... I’m not speaking for Roki. I’m speaking my own opinion that in order to take it to another level he (realized he) had to come here and play against the best players every day and tap into all the resources that major league teams have to help him become one of the best pitchers not just to come out of NPB but in Major League Baseball. That’s what he wants. That’s why he came.”

Sasaki was officially posted by his NPB team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, on Dec. 10. At that time, Wolfe sent a letter to all 30 MLB teams inviting them to submit presentations to Sasaki.

Twenty teams took advantage of that invitation, Wolfe said.

“I have to say while the quality and the uniqueness varied, it was really something,” Wolfe said. “There were highly in-depth power-point presentations, short films, some teams made actual books.”

A number of teams had in-person meetings at Wolfe’s office in Los Angeles. The meetings were limited to two hours each and Sasaki did not travel to any team’s stadium or city. By his request, no current players were present at the meetings — though some did appear in the videos submitted. So any recruiting pitches by Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto for the Dodgers, Yu Darvish for the Padres or Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki for the Chicago Cubs would not have been made face to face.

Those teams were given an unspecified “homework assignment” by Sasaki so he could get an idea “how they can analyze and communicate information with him.”

Wolfe would not specify how many teams have had in-person meetings with Sasaki since he was posted but a source confirmed the Dodgers were one of them. Five other teams have been reported as having had meetings with Sasaki — the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.

Sasaki is currently in Japan, Wolfe said. But the expectation is for him to return to the United States for a second round of meetings with a limited number of teams in January.

“He is definitely driving the ship and calling the shots,” Wolfe said.

Sasaki can’t sign before Jan. 15, when the international signing period begins, but he has to sign before Jan. 24 when his posting window closes. Wolfe doesn’t expect Sasaki’s decision to come immediately after Jan. 15.

“This is a very unique process and a very unique player,” Wolfe said.

“We’ve had numerous conversations about team location, market size, team success — things like that. He doesn’t seem to look at it in the typical way that other players do. He has a more long-term, global view of things. I believe Roki is also very interested in the pitching development and how a team is going to help him get better both in the near future and over the course of his career.”

The Dodgers are considered the frontrunners to sign Sasaki with the Padres seen as their main competition. Earlier this month, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called signing Sasaki “a major priority.”