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The Mainichi
27-05-2025
- Sport
- The Mainichi
Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki had shoulder issues before joining Dodgers: sources
The right shoulder impingement that landed Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki on the injured list May 13 is the same as an injury the 23-year-old suffered last season with Nippon Professional Baseball's Chiba Lotte Marines, baseball sources have revealed. According to these sources, Sasaki first experienced pain in his throwing shoulder during the first half of last season, his fifth as a professional. Medical examinations at the time produced the same diagnosis -- impingement. Sasaki reportedly complained that the pain occurred after pitching motions, saying his right shoulder "would hurt whenever I used it." However, medical imaging revealed no abnormalities, forcing the team to depend significantly on the pitcher's personal assessment of his condition. Due to what the Marines officially classified as "poor condition in the right arm," Sasaki missed nearly two months from June last season. When symptoms flared up, Sasaki managed his condition by spacing out his pitching appearances or halting throwing until the pain subsided. Despite the lingering shoulder concerns, Sasaki posted a career-best performance in his final Japanese season, recording 10 wins and five losses in 18 games, facilitating his high-profile move to the Dodgers. According to Dr. Tetsuya Yamazaki, head of the sports orthopedics department at Yokohama Minami Kyousai Hospital and a prominent expert on professional baseball players' shoulder injuries, impingement often develops from collisions between the acromion -- the upper outer portion of the scapula -- and the rotator cuff muscles. It can also occur within the joint due to contact between the glenoid labrum and the rotator cuff tendons. Before Sasaki's MLB transfer, the Chiba Lotte Marines reportedly provided detailed medical and injury records, including information about his right shoulder issues, to interested MLB clubs during negotiations.
22-05-2025
- Sport
Chiba to Open New Ballpark in 2034
News from Japan May 22, 2025 22:51 (JST) Chiba, May 22 (Jiji Press)--The Chiba city government said Thursday that it plans to spend some 65 billion yen to relocate and reconstruct Zozo Marine Stadium, which is located near the Tokyo Bay, aiming to open a new ballpark around 2034. The new ballpark will be built nearby with a capacity of some 33,000 people, about 10 pct more than the current level. Its ground will be grass and available for music concerts. The city chose an open-air ballpark as a domed facility is likely to cost more. Zozo Marine Stadium, home to the Chiba Lotte Marines professional baseball team, was completed in 1990. It has deteriorated due to environmental impacts including salt damage. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Los Angeles Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Roki Sasaki's shoulder issue leaves Dodgers in a familiar and problematic position
Like pretty much every other time the Dodgers have found themselves in a self-made mess, the task of downplaying a major problem once again was made the responsibility of manager Dave Roberts. So, in the aftermath of a deflating 11-1 defeat by the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night, Roberts trudged into the interview room at Dodger Stadium and applied a good old Stan Kasten spin to Roki Sasaki's move to the 15-day injured list. The point relayed by Roberts was basically this: Sasaki underwhelmed in his eight major league starts because of a shoulder pain that he kept secret from the Dodgers 'for the last weeks,' and not because the 23-year-old rookie right-hander wasn't as good as they previously thought. 'He hasn't been as productive as he would have liked because he was compromised,' said Roberts, who added that Sasaki revealed his condition to the team after his most recent start. The explanation raised an equally alarming possibility, however. If Roberts' story was accurate, and Sasaki experienced a shoulder impingement to the one that slowed him down last year in Japan, wouldn't that point to a chronic problem? As it was, Sasaki was already viewed as a high injury risk. He never remained healthy for an entire season with the Chiba Lotte Marines. At this point, what's worse? That Sasaki's lack of control and decline in fastball velocity were because of a chronic shoulder issue? Or because he just was too raw to compete in the major leagues? Either scenario would be problematic. So, what now? As much as the Dodgers sold Sasaki on how they could one day guide him to a Cy Young Award, his future isn't their only priority. They also have to consider what's best for their team, which is positioned to become baseball's first repeat champion in a quarter century. Even if the Dodgers acknowledge that Sasaki is more of a long-term project than a short-term solution and want to send him to the minor leagues when he returns, they might not have the luxury of doing so. They have signed four potential frontline pitchers in the last two years, and three of them are currently on the injured list — Sasaki, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. The other, two-way player Shohei Ohtani, isn't expected to pitch until after the All-Star break. Snell was examined by a team doctor on Tuesday but the team didn't provide any details about his condition. Glasnow played catch but Roberts didn't provide a timeline for his return. The rotation is in such a state of ruin that not only were the Dodgers forced to start Landon Knack on Tuesday, they were desperately awaiting the return of 37-year-old Clayton Kershaw four days later. Roberts described Sasaki's injury as 'benign' but didn't say when he might resume throwing. The manager insisted there were no thoughts of sending him to the minors, despite Sasaki posting a 4.72 earned-run average and completing six innings in just one start. 'I think our goal is to get him healthy, get him strong, make sure his delivery is sound for him to pitch for us,' Roberts said. In other words, Sasaki will return to the mound in the major leagues. He will have to gain familiarity with low-quality American baseballs in the major leagues. He will have to become more comfortable with the pitch clock in the major leagues. He will have to strengthen his body to prevent future injuries in the major leagues. He will have to learn to throw something other than a fastball, forkball and slider in the major leagues. The Dodgers knew Sasaki would require an adjustment period but they couldn't have imagined anything this drastic. The introductory news conference they staged for Sasaki in January was matched in scale in recent years only by Ohtani's and Yoshinobu Yamamoto's. That was where president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman declared Sasaki would start the season in the Dodgers' rotation and general manager Brandon Gomes compared him to Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Back then, the Dodgers' plan for Sasaki was simple: Insert him into the rotation and watch him develop into one of the best pitchers in baseball. Sasaki can still become everything the Dodgers envisioned, but his path to greatness has become infinitely more complicated. Roberts remained characteristically upbeat, saying Sasaki concealed his shoulder problems from the team not because he was selfish but because he didn't want to let down an injury-ravaged team. 'He's a great teammate,' Roberts said. With his rotation crumbling, Roberts didn't have the luxury of viewing the situation any other way.
CBS News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Roki Sasaki is the latest Dodgers pitcher to land on the injured list
Touted Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki landed on the injured list Tuesday with right shoulder impingement, an injury similar to one he had in Japan last year. He told the team his arm was sore after his last start, in which he pitched on five days' rest for the first time in the majors. Sasaki threw four innings and gave up five runs on 61 pitches Friday at Arizona. "What we gather is he's felt some discomfort for the last few weeks," manager Dave Roberts said after an 11-1 loss to the Athletics, "but given where we're at as a pitching staff he wanted to continue to go and persevere and fight through everything until he felt that his performance was going to be compromised. That's when he let us know where he was at physically." Sasaki underwent scans on Monday's off day that revealed the problem. Roberts said there is no timeline for his return. "I don't think that any expectation is fair to him," he said. Sasaki is 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts. He has 24 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .225 average. Sasaki was scheduled to start Thursday against the Athletics. Instead, the Dodgers are likely to go with a bullpen game. Sasaki won't pick up a baseball for a while, Roberts said. The 23-year-old right-hander joined the Dodgers in January after spending the last four years with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball League. He missed time last year with shoulder fatigue that limited him to 18 starts and 111 innings. "We're very grateful that with the scans that we took that it is similar to what he's already been through before, so something familiar to him," Roberts said. "We just feel that with some rest, getting the strength back, getting back to his normal delivery that he's going to be just fine." Sasaki was known for throwing 100 mph in Japan and in his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo in March he repeatedly reached 99 mph in the first inning. But he's struggled to find that same zip on his fastball since, with his velocity dipping to the mid-90s. "We're still trying to have conversations to see where he's at," Roberts said. "At the end of the day we want to make sure that he is performing up to his capabilities and up to our capabilities and our expectations. "There's a lot of kind of things that we're trying to suss out right now with Roki." Roberts said he doesn't think Sasaki will spend any time in the minors. "Our goal is to get him healthy, get him strong, make sure the delivery is sound and get him to pitch for us," the manager said. "He hasn't been as productive as he would have liked because he was compromised and so that's kind of enlightening to all of us." Sasaki was pulled from his Dodger Stadium debut in the second inning because of control issues. His sad face and teary eyes were shown on a Japanese TV feed. Going on the IL could provide a welcome reset for Sasaki. "Obviously, we didn't know what to expect this year, but to think he was going to go wire-to-wire given his track record and history of innings was probably unrealistic," Roberts said. "This could be that little bit of reprieve in the middle of the season that we can get him back to being healthy, get him strong and a hundred percent and help us get through the World Series." Sasaki's injury is the latest blow to the Dodgers' rotation. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are on the injured list, although Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to make his season debut Saturday after starting the season on the IL. Right-hander J.P. Feyereisen was recalled for his second stint with the Dodgers. He gave up three runs and six hits in two innings of relief Tuesday.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
LA Dodgers place superstar Roki Sasaki on the injury list as worryingly slow start to his MLB career continues
Highly-touted Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki has landed on the injured list with right shoulder soreness, in the latest blow to his MLB career. He told the team his arm was sore after his last start in which he pitched on five days rest for the first time in the majors. Sasaki threw four innings and gave up five runs on 61 pitches Friday at Arizona. 'Physically he was a little bit sore afterwards and that's something that we're still trying to figure out, what's normal and what's not normal,' manager Dave Roberts said before the team announced Sasaki was sidelined. 'We want to make sure that he's in a good spot physically.' The right-hander is 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts. He has 24 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .225 average. Sasaki was scheduled to make his next start Thursday against the Athletics. The 23-year-old from Japan joined the Dodgers in January after spending the last four years with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball League. Sasaki was known for throwing 100mph in Japan and in his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo in March he repeatedly reached 99 mph in the first inning. But he's struggled to find that same zip on his fastball since, with his velocity dipping to the mid-90s. 'We're still trying to have conversations to see where he's at,' Roberts said. 'At the end of the day we want to make sure that he is performing up to his capabilities and up to our capabilities and our expectations. 'There's a lot of kind of things that we're trying to suss out right now with Roki.' Sasaki was pulled from his Dodger Stadium debut in the second inning because of control issues. His sad face and teary eyes were shown on a Japanese TV feed. His injury is the latest blow to the Dodgers' rotation. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are on the injured list, although Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to make his season debut Saturday after starting the season on the IL. Right-hander J.P. Feyereisen was recalled for his second stint with the Dodgers this season.
