Los Angeles Dodgers make history again by signing the first South Sudanese player in history

Since the Dodgers won the World Series in 2024, they have continued to actively strengthen after the season, including the newly signed Rangki Sasaki, and today (19th) the team announced the signing of 17-year-old pitcher Joseph Deng, making him the first South Sudanese player in history to sign a professional contract with a major league team.

Deng is currently 6 ft 7 in (200.8 cm) tall, weighs 185 pounds (84 kg) and has a 95-mile speedball in addition to a knuckle. His physical condition is also quite good, and his slender stature and arm swinging movements give him a high chance of increasing his ball speed when he comes to the United States to become stronger.

According to the current international players signed by the major league clubs since January 15, Deng is the second player from Africa, and the first one is the Pirates who signed Armstrong Muhoozi from Uganda.

It is worth mentioning that the Pirates have also signed pitcher David Matama from Uganda in 2023, and the Dodgers have signed 3 Ugandan players since 2022, bringing the number of players from Uganda in the major league system to 5.

Together with Roncy Sasaki and Deng, the Dodgers have signed 10 players since the opening of international signings, with six of the other eight from Venezuela and two from the Dominican Republic.