
The Los Angeles Dodgers have lost another starting pitcher to injury. Prized right-hander Roki Sasaki has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement, the team announced Tuesday. Righty J.P. Feyereisen was called up in a corresponding move. Clayton Kershaw will essentially replace Sasaki in the rotation when he returns Saturday.
“Physically, he was a little bit sore afterwards (his last start),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about Sasaki on Tuesday (via the Los Angeles Times). “And that’s something that we’re still kind of trying to figure out. What’s normal, what’s kind of not normal.”
Sasaki, 23, has gradually lost velocity off his high-octane fastball this season, and velocity loss is a classic sign of shoulder trouble. His heater averaged 98.1 mph in his first MLB start. In his last start, last Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sasaki averaged 94.8 mph and did not throw a pitch over 97.1 mph. At times he’s been clock as low as 92 mph.
In eight starts this season Sasaki owns a 4.72 ERA with nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (24) in 34 1/3 innings. His fastball has been hit pretty hard even at its peak velocities. Hitters have missed with only 10.1% of their swings against his heater, less than half the 21.3% league average whiff rate for four-seamers. Clearly, the young man is far from a finished product.
Including Kershaw and Sasaki, the Dodgers currently have nine starting pitchers on the injured list. Their rotation depth chart looks something like this at the moment:
RHP Shohei Ohtani(rehabbing from elbow surgery)- RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
LHP Blake Snell(out with shoulder inflammation)RHP Tyler Glasnow(out with shoulder inflammation)LHP Clayton Kershaw(will make season debut Saturday)RHP Roki Sasaki(out with shoulder impingement)- RHP Dustin May
- RHP Tony Gonsolin
RHP Gavin Stone(will miss 2025 with shoulder surgery)- RHP Landon Knack
- RHP Bobby Miller
- LHP Justin Wrobleski
RHP River Ryan(will miss 2025 with Tommy John surgery)RHP Emmet Sheehan(will miss most of 2025 with Tommy John surgery)RHP Kyle Hurt(will miss most of 2025 with Tommy John surgery)
Glasnow resumed throwing last week and could throw a bullpen this homestand, Roberts said Tuesday. Snell is scheduled to meet with his doctor Tuesday and the Dodgers are bringing Ohtani along very slowly. He continues to throw off a mound but there is no firm timetable for him to begin facing hitters and pitching in any kind of game setting.
Despite a payroll that is pushing $400 million, the Dodgers have used 11 different starting pitchers in 41 games. No team has used more. That is in part by design. The Dodgers use the regular season almost as a dress rehearsal. Their priority is being in the best position heading into October, so all their pitching decisions are made with the big picture in mind.
The Dodgers entered play Tuesday with baseball’s best record at 27-14. They are beginning to push the limits of their pitching depth though. This is an extreme number of pitching injuries even for a team that is unafraid of pitchers with injury risk.
This news was originally published on this post .
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