"Baseball made me who I am today," Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rōki Sasaki said on the anniversary of the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake earlier this year. "I've learned so much from it."

Sasaki, who was just nine years old at the time of the disaster, lost his father and grandparents to the tsunami and his home was destroyed. Amid daily life, the moments that helped him forget his grief were when he played baseball with friends and siblings. The young boy continued with the sport, overcame tremendous hardship, carved a path to the professional level, and this year, reached the Major League stage.

On Sunday, Sasaki, together with his former Chiba Lotte teammate Shuta Takano, held a baseball clinic in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, where they led elementary and middle schoo

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