Roki Sasaki is already making a splash in Major League Baseball and he hasn't even signed with a team yet.

The 23-year-old Japanese phenom pitcher was mentioned in Sheel Seidler's lawsuit against her brothers-in-law as she seeks control of the San Diego Padres.

Sheel, widow of late team owner Peter Seidler, is alleging that Peter's brothers, Robert and Matthew, breached their fiduciary duty and committed fraud in their roles at the helm of the Padres. She also argued that Peter had wanted her to take over control of the team before passing it down to their children.

“The family-centric approach has been a cornerstone of the franchise's values and has cultivated a unique sense of authenticity and belonging,” the lawsuit states before turning to Sasaki as an example.

“For instance, a recent column in the San Diego Union-Tribune underscored Sheel’s critical role in successfully recruiting players, opining that Sheel Seidler, the former chairman’s wife, should be part of the Padres team that tries to woo Roki Sasaki,” it said.

Peter's brothers fired back at Sheel's accusations in a statement through the Peter Seidler Trust on Monday, calling her lawsuit “entirely without merit.”

“Peter had a clear estate plan,” the statement said. “The plan specifically named three of his nine siblings, with whom he had worked closely for many decades, as successor trustees of his trust and Peter himself prohibited Sheel from ever serving as trustee.”

Roki Sasaki remains a prime target for the Padres

Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Padres are on the list of teams that Sasaki has met with as he nears a decision, but the competition remains fierce. MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported that Sasaki has spoken to at least one team beyond the already reported list of the Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers.

As it stands, the Dodgers are seen as the favorite to land him, but don't count out the Padres. Former MLB GM Jim Bowden suggested that Sasaki would be in the shadows of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto with the Dodgers, and added that he grew up a Masahiro Tanaka fan and was mentored by Yu Darvish.

“Therefore, for no other reason, I’ll predict he signs with either the Yankees or San Diego,” he concluded in a piece for The Athletic.

Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe told The Athletic that there is still no timeline for a decision.

“We’re still talking and having Zoom calls,” he said. “So I don’t have a precise timeline for that, like we did for the [winter] meetings. Teams will be notified at some point if there’s going to be additional meetings or travel or something like that. But other than that, I don’t believe there’s going to be any specific timeline.”