LOS ANGELES — The mystery surrounding Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki’s gradual dip in fastball velocity deepened Tuesday afternoon as the Dodgers looked poised to place the 23-year-old Japanese right-hander on the injured list.
Sasaki has been dealing with a right shoulder issue, a league source told The Athletic, and the injury has dropped Sasaki’s former triple-digit radar gun readings into the mid-90s.
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Before signing with the Dodgers, the pitcher famously proposed a “homework assignment” to prospective clubs to help him rediscover his 100+ mph velocity. As a result of that assignment, Sasaki’s fastball has been scrutinized throughout his rookie season.
The Japanese star spent much of spring training working with Dodgers coaches on implementing the changes they suggested before signing him, then hit 101 mph in his major-league debut on a global stage in the Tokyo Dome. Sasaki hasn’t hit 100 mph since that opening frame and hasn’t even cleared 98 mph since his fourth start of the season. His hardest pitch on Friday night was 97.5 mph, as he didn’t elicit a single swing-and-miss on his fastball when the Arizona Diamondbacks blasted him for five runs over four innings.
Sasaki had been dealing with the issue in recent starts, the source said. Asked if the drop in velocity was tied more to an injury or to flaws in Sasaki’s mechanics, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it was both.
“We’re still trying to have conversations to kind of see where he’s at, because at the end of the day, we want to make sure that he is performing up to his capabilities and up to our capabilities and our expectations,” Roberts said Tuesday as the Dodgers moved closer to the transaction. “So there’s a lot of things that we’re trying to suss out right now with Roki.”
Sasaki has a 4.72 ERA and has just 24 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings through his first eight big-league starts. It wasn’t until after Friday’s start that Sasaki reported arm soreness, Roberts said. It was Sasaki’s first time pitching on five days’ rest in the big leagues after pitching on six days of rest in his first seven starts.
“Physically, he was a little bit sore afterwards, and that’s something that we’re still kind of trying to figure out, you know, what’s normal, what’s kind of not normal. … We want to make sure that he’s in a good spot, physically and mentally,” Roberts said.
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Sasaki’s fastball lacks an ideal shape to miss bats, even before this recent drop in velocity. The right-hander’s command was also erratic at the start of his big-league career, with pitching coach Mark Prior saying last week the Dodgers encouraged him to dial into a band of velocity that would allow him to access better command.
“Everybody knows he throws 100. He’s not throwing 100 with us,” Prior said. “That’s something that I think he was trying to train and get back to it, which we tried to help as much as we could. But he also felt like it affected his command tremendously in those first couple outings. So it’s something that we made a decision to move away from.”
Sasaki said he didn’t intentionally dial back his velocity into the mid-90s. That drop has puzzled the Dodgers and the right-hander alike.
“Just really still in this process of finding out what the root cause (is), working with my coaches, talking to people about this,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I’m not quite exactly sure and can’t really state exactly the single reason.”
The plan had been for Sasaki to continue working through mechanical tweaks in a big-league setting, with Roberts saying over the weekend that sending Sasaki to the minors was not “in any of our minds right now.” Now, he’ll have time to get healthy — and potentially reset in his acclimation to Major League Baseball.
The Dodgers will get rotation reinforcements with Sasaki landing on the shelf. Clayton Kershaw is slated to make his season debut on Saturday, Roberts confirmed. This will be Kershaw’s 18th season in a Dodgers uniform, this time following offseason toe and knee surgeries.
The organization is still awaiting word on two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, who is set to meet Tuesday afternoon with team doctors for a prescheduled visit. If all goes well, then Snell (who is on the IL with a shoulder issue) could be cleared to start a throwing progression. Tyler Glasnow has continued to progress in his rehab from a shoulder issue. He continues to throw, and if all goes well, he could be throwing off a mound by the end of this long homestand at Dodger Stadium.
In the interim, J.P. Feyereisen would take Sasaki’s spot on the roster as an extra bullpen arm.
(Photo of Roki Sasaki: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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