Pegged as the top prospect in the sport, he eventually signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He began the season as the starter, although a combination of injuries and general ineffectiveness led to a lengthy stint away from the team in the Minor Leagues.
However, as the regular season came to an end, Sasaki was brought up as a bullpen option – and that resulted in the young right-handed pitcher developing into the team’s best closer. Sasaki’s performances were both shocking and very powerful considering what the first part of the year looked like.
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Fabian Ardaya van The Athletics answered a question from a fan asking what the team could take away from Sasaki’s performance in the postseason — and whether that could translate to Sasaki being a starting pitcher.
“The biggest thing, besides health, that the Dodgers can hope to rely on from Roki Sasaki’s midseason transformation is his mechanics. The cues they implemented to get him to use his lower half more were what was needed to get his velocity back to a place where his fastball couldn’t be crushed in the strike zone. That allowed Sasaki to be in the strike zone more often, which helped his unique splitter.”
“If the velocity is close to where it needs to be, then at least Sasaki has the building blocks to be an effective starter, even if his new cutter doesn’t end up being a viable pitch.”
All indications point to Sasaki being in the team’s starting rotation (barring a trade), along with Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Emmet Sheehan.
As Ardaya noted, the two-field arsenal is something that will be expanded. Sasaki has relied primarily on a fastball-splitter combination during the postseason. To start with, this will be expanded with at least two fields.
Fortunately for the Dodgers and Sasaki himself, expectations will likely diminish given the other members of the rotation. In theory, Sasaki can take action without much pressure, while gaining valuable experience.
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Photo credits: Kirby Lee/Imagn Images
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