Roki Sasaki started his rehab assignment as he makes his way back to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but fell short of the goal in his first outing for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets.
The Dodgers hoped Sasaki would get through three innings after he threw that many in live batting practice at Dodger Stadium for the final step before his rehab assignment began. But the right-hander only made it through two innings while allowing three runs on six hits with no strikeouts and one walk.
Sasaki threw 41 pitches, 25 of which were strikes, and his fastball velocity was down to the 91-93 mph range. During his live BP at Dodger Stadium, Sasaki sat around 96 mph and topped out at 97 mph.
“The split was pretty good on a few pitches,” Sasaki said in Japanese before being translated. “The two-seamer was used effectively as well. The cutter was a bit iffy, and above all, my fastball—usually, I gauge my velocity starting from catch, gradually increasing speed, but this time I didn’t do that.
“I didn’t know where the radar gun was in the first inning, so I went in too softly, and I heard later that the velocity wasn’t there. In the second inning, I tried to ramp it up, and even that raised it by about two miles, so I think my mistake was simply going in too casually.”
Sasaki started his outing with a walk and then allowed a stolen base and single that put the Albuquerque Isotopes up 1-0. Another stolen base and sacrifice fly led to another run scoring.
Sasaki allowed a single and stolen base in the second inning, but got through it unscathed against the Colorado Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate.
But after allowing two singles to start the third inning, Sasaki was taken out of the game, and one run ended up scoring to credit him with his third allowed of the outing.
“First of all, I’m glad I was able to pitch without any health concerns,” Sasaki said. “In terms of performance, there are still some issues to work on. I want to reflect on those and apply them to my next outing.”
The main thing is Sasaki came away from the first start healthy, and now he can continue to work on improving his game.
“There’s no discomfort, so I think it’s a matter of performance,” Sasaki said. “I’m confident I’m managing my health well, and if I can elevate my performance to a major league level, that’s the goal.”
Sasaki has been on the injured list since May 13. He was transferred to the 60-day IL on June 20 amid a prolonged recovery process from a right shoulder impingement that twice resulted in being shut down.
The 23-year-old went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA and 1.49 WHIP across eight starts before going on the injured list.
Dodgers building up Roki Sasaki as starter
The Dodgers have a full rotation at the moment and a need in the bullpen, but that isn’t changing their plans for Sasaki right now.
“Obviously he’s a starter. We see him as that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Just don’t know what’s going to happen with starting pitching, so right now it’s just continuing to build him up, see how it looks and if there’s a different conversation that needs to be had later. But right now, we see him as a starter.”
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
