The hospital that the Los Angeles Dodgers have become this season added Japanese rookie Roki Sasaki as their latest patient, after he was placed on the disabled list on Tuesday with a sore right shoulder.
During their planning for the season, the Dodgers had suggested that they were contemplating a six-man rotation to protect their starters from injury, especially a measure that was thought of Sasaki, who last year in Japan, had already had a similar problem to the one he presented this week.
The injuries to starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, coupled with the delay in the returns of Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw, prevented the Dodgers from carrying out the plan, and after for the first time in the Major Leagues, Sasaki started on five days’ rest, he informed the team that his arm hurt, after a four-inning, 61-pitch outing in which he allowed five runs in last Friday’s game in which Los Angeles defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 14-11.
“What we understand is that he has felt some discomfort over the last few weeks,” manager Dave Roberts revealed of Sasaki‘s situation following Tuesday’s 11-1 loss to the Athletics, before adding: “Given our situation as a pitching staff, he wanted to keep playing, persevere and fight until he felt his performance would be compromised. That’s when he let us know his physical condition.”
Dave Roberts does not know when Roki Sasaki will return
Sasaki’s first adventure in MLB has not been as expected, at least in terms of his numbers, with a 1-1 record in eight starts, a 4.72 ERA, 24 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings, but with some flashes of his quality, still without showing what he showed in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, when he reached pitches of 100 mph or last year in Japan of 90 mph, and now many fans look pessimistic about whether he can be the jewel they expected.
“I don’t think any expectation is fair for him,” said Dave Roberts about Sasaki, who according to his manager’s information will not be back on the ball for a while, although he ruled out that they have contemplated sending him to the Minor Leagues: “Our goal is for him to recover, to get stronger, for his pitching to be solid and to pitch for us. It hasn’t been as productive as he would have liked because he was committed, and that’s a revelation for all of us.”
With Sasaki out, right-handed pitcher J.P. Feyereisen was called up for his second stint with the Dodgers and veteran Clayton Kershaw is expected to make his 2025 season debut Saturday against the Angels.
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