06-08-2025
Roki Sasaki is getting closer to a return. What will the Dodgers get out of him?
LOS ANGELES — Roki Sasaki is still trying to get his lost rookie season back on some sort of path. Not even the Los Angeles Dodgers, who wooed the Japanese phenom during a much-anticipated international free-agency cycle last winter, know where this all leads.
That it has even reached this crossroads in August is a surprise. The Dodgers cautioned against the hyperbole surrounding Sasaki during the offseason, trying to temper expectations for a talented pitcher who remained a question mark in nearly every way imaginable.
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Indeed, Sasaki's first taste of the big leagues has raised more questions than it has answered. He stopped throwing hard and missing bats. In eight starts, he had a 4.72 ERA. Many of those starts were plagued by a shoulder issue he reported to the team after a handful of starts, one that has now subtracted months from his rookie season.
It's a year that Sasaki and the Dodgers still hope can be salvaged. Sasaki threw a bullpen session on Tuesday that encouraged club officials, as well as the pitcher himself.
'I think it's (heading) in the right direction,' Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton.
Roki Sasaki, speaking to reporters for the first time since mid May, said it is his 'every intention' to get back to a big league mound this season. He's pain-free, believes he's in a better spot to hit top velocities, but still working on refining his mechanics.
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Sasaki faced hitters twice and will for a third time on Friday. He could go on a rehab assignment soon and suddenly reenter the Dodgers' pitching mix as they enter the final month of the season. Perhaps, in some ideal world, Sasaki will regain the velocity that could help patch over some of the Dodgers' October bullpen woes.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't close down that idea Tuesday. Sasaki, speaking to reporters for the first time since May 14, said he'd be willing to pitch in whatever role the Dodgers ask as he builds back up as a starter.
Still, the thing with Sasaki is the same as it's ever been. No one still quite knows what the 23-year-old will bring.
'I just think that Roki has got to believe that his stuff plays here, which we all believe it does,' Roberts said.
Sasaki spent his first months in a Dodgers uniform prioritizing his fastball velocity, which had dropped from 2023 to 2024 and became the focal point of his conversations with interested clubs this winter. The famed 'homework assignment' resulted in a return to 100 and 101 mph in Sasaki's first big-league inning. He hasn't topped 100 mph since, and didn't top 98 after his fourth start.
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That velocity had previously masked a very hittable fastball, and Sasaki's heater got walloped in the ensuing outings. He didn't throw enough of them for strikes. When he fell behind hitters, the pitches he did throw in the strike zone got crushed. That there was an injury behind at least some of his struggles was oddly encouraging — it explained a pitcher performing unlike what the Dodgers could have expected.
'We're trying to make evaluations and determinations and decisions based off a guy that we don't really know, and then there ends up being an injury,' Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. 'Sometimes you do feel like you're chasing your tail on what corrections we need to be making.'
The right-hander said he feels pain-free. Prior said Sasaki has sat between 93 and 95 mph in bullpen sessions, similar to where he was in spring training and improved from where he was before going on the injured list. Sasaki has had a chance to work on his delivery. He also feels he's had a chance to learn what works and doesn't as he transitions to Major League Baseball.
'American hitters have a different approach at the plate compared to Japanese hitters,' Sasaki said through his interpreter. 'So, you know, I can't really attack the same way that I used to in Japan, and also at the same time, they have different strengths and weaknesses. So just being able to have more variety in the way I attack the hitters.'
That also means being amenable to change. Much of the Dodgers' messaging this spring with Sasaki focused on allowing the private young star to take his time adapting and learning his surroundings before implementing any changes. Sasaki's recruitment was shrouded in secrecy, which only added to the mystery of what Sasaki was willing to listen to. Some of the bigger-picture ideas, such as the shape of his fastball (which does not have the elite 'carry' or 'ride' that one would think even at high velocities), were less actionable during the season, anyways.
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Given three months to get healthy and figure something out, he's been open to suggestions. One example that Roberts pointed to: Sasaki mixed in a two-seam fastball on Tuesday, something the Dodgers first broached with Sasaki shortly before he went on the injured list in May.
'I think he's understanding that, and he's growing,' Roberts said. 'He's a young player. A very talented young player. But I commend him for being open to our coaching staff.'
The hope is that a second fastball will take some of the focus off his four-seamer and perhaps help any tweaks play up. If anything, it makes him less predictable.
'There's been moments where he's like, 'No, I feel really convicted in this,'' Prior said when asked how Sasaki was taking feedback. 'Obviously, that's their decision. Then there have been moments like now where it's, 'Hey, a two-seamer, yeah. Let's play this out.' And he's been open to seeing how that works for him. I think ultimately we'll find out once we start facing real hitters in real situations and then you find out really where that openness, where that line is, good and bad.'
That test is set to begin soon. Sasaki is expected to face hitters for three simulated innings on Friday at Dodger Stadium, then head out on a minor-league rehab assignment. It won't be a short trip, with the Dodgers still needing to see what they have in Sasaki — and Sasaki ideally building up to five or six innings — before they see how and if he fits in for them.
'I think that Roki just needs to pitch,' Roberts said. 'He needs to build up, he needs to get repetitions and see how, with his arm being healthy, it responds to hitters.'
So yes, there remains a path in which Sasaki salvages a lost rookie season and emerges as a weapon in October. He just has to show something to keep that dream alive.
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'I do need to fight for the opportunity, too,' Sasaki said.
Should the Dodgers' starting staff remain healthy — a big if — it's hard to see how Roki's role will be as a starter. But there's still a path.
'We're gonna take the 13 best pitchers,' Roberts said. 'If Roki is a part of that in some capacity, then that would be great. And if he's not, then he won't be.'
(Photo of Roki Sasaki from June 22: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)
