The Los Angeles Dodgers lost another member of their Opening Day rotation this week with Roki Sasaki landing on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder impingement.
Sasaki joined Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell with being out due to a shoulder issue. His injury also places further strain on a Dodgers rotation that collectively has underwhelmed this season for a multitude of reasons.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sasaki did not reveal his right shoulder trouble until after a start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 9. The outing was Sasaki’s first time pitching on five days of rest instead of six.
He struggled in the start at Chase Field and continued to pitch with diminished fastball velocity. That was a focal point for Sasaki during his free agency process, as he looked to get back to throwing at or near triple digits.
The Dodgers now believe Sasaki’s decline in velocity is at least partially tied to his right shoulder injury that was not disclosed to the team for multiple weeks.
“Personally, for me, just seeing him a couple years ago in the WBC, he looked a little bit more physical,” Roberts said. “I don’t know exactly the physicality, the weight, but I do know that getting him offline right now, getting him stronger, getting him a foundation, obviously mainly letting his shoulder calm down, so we’re not affecting anything going forward, that’s kind of the goal.
” If we can do that, then continue to work on the mechanics. Knowing what we know now, there was certainly some compensation from him. His delivery was probably compromised. All that is because he wanted to compete and help us out. There’s very few players that are 100% in a Major League season.
“But again, once we got this information, although we appreciate him trying to fight through it, which is great, but we wanted to get some scans to know what we were dealing with. What we decided, and in talking to Roki as well, is let’s put him on the IL, let’s get his strength back, get his health back, then go from there. I don’t have a timeline at all.”
Sasaki went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in eight starts before going on the injured list.
When will Roki Sasaki return?
One silver lining the Dodgers see with Sasaki’s injury is he dealt with the same issue last year while with Chiba Lotte. Of course, that could also suggest a potentially chronic situation.
Sasaki has been shut down from throwing for the time being, but what holds beyond the immediate future is not yet clear. Michael Kopech started the season on the 15-day injured list because of a shoulder impingement as well and is yet to pitch in a game for the Dodgers.
He has made two appearances while on a rehab assignment that started late last week.
But when asked if an expected Sasaki timeline could be compared to Kopech’s, Roberts hesitated to draw any parallels. “I don’t know exactly, and I don’t want to speculate him versus Kopech,” he began.
“We made it very clear to Roki that there’s no expectation on timeline. The main thing is that he’s healthy, he’s strong and his delivery feels good. Then he’ll pitch for us. I don’t think any expectation is fair to him.”
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!
