The overall line for Roki Sasaki in his start against the Chicago Cubs still left a lot to be desired, but the Los Angeles Dodgers saw his outing as a big step forward.
Sasaki allowed four runs in five-plus innings and gave up three solo home runs, but he also pitched into the sixth inning for the first time this year and found a recipe for success moving forward.
That hope is fueled by changes to Sasaki’s splitter and his game plan for attacking hitters. The major change is that he worked with Dodgers pitching coaches Connor McGuiness and Mark Prior to start throwing his splitter harder.
“I think that him, Connor and Mark were working on some things and kind of wanted to add a little bit more velocity to it so it simulates the fastball more, versus some type of off-speed pitch,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained. “So a little bit more (velocity). I think you saw today it’s 91-ish (mph) right around there.”
Sasaki’s splitter has averaged 86.8 mph this season, but in his outing against the Cubs, it was up to 90.8 mph. That reduced the pitch’s movement, with it dropping an average of seven fewer inches from his release to home plate, but it also made it more difficult for hitters to differentiate from the fastball.
“I think it’s more tunneled like the fastball,” Roberts said. “And you would think that you’re going to get more swing and miss. And I think today with that split, it stayed in the hitting zone a little bit longer and makes that hitter make a decision a little sooner.”
Sasaki would not reveal what specific change he made that allowed him to throw his splitter harder, but said it’s now more similar to how he used it in Japan.
Roki Sasaki relied on splitter
Sasaki also significantly increased his splitter usage. He threw it 48 times out of his 100 pitches against the Cubs, making it his most-used offering. He previously relied more on his fastball, with a 13% increase in his splitter usage and an 11% decrease in his fastball usage.
Sasaki and Dalton Rushing both attributed that to the right-hander having more command of that pitch. Sasaki threw his splitter on the first pitch in 10 at-bats and got a strike against nine of those hitters.
“Yeah, I think it was just, what can we get around the zone,” Rushing said. “What can we get in the zone early to get strike one in the first two pitches? And like I said, I think he did a really good job of that.
“And moving forward, I think we can tinker with it a little bit to obviously be a little safer with it with two strikes. I know we gave up a couple hits on two-strike splitters, whether it was overexposed or what, but I’m really excited for his next one.”
Rushing also believes that Sasaki’s splitter being in the zone more often allowed them to get additional chase from hitters.
“And that alone is a little bit of a difference from the past,” Rushing said. “And I think that’s what allowed us to get some guys to chase later.”
On the season, hitters have chased Sasaki’s pitches outside the zone just 27% of the time, but that rate increased to 36% against the Cubs. In total, he recorded 15 swings and misses in the game with an elite 34% called strike + whiff rate.
Dodgers encouraged with Roki Sasaki
With the changes, Sasaki looks closer to reaching his potential. While there are still some things to work out, it was a highly encouraging outing for the 24-year-old.
“I will say that there’s still things I felt that each outing he got a little bit better on, but I do think this outing today is something that is a bigger step forward,” Roberts said.
“And yeah, he hasn’t set us back at all. We’re taking this on as far as his growth. But today was a really good one, and I hope he feels the same way about his outing.”
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