After an unusual rookie regular season, filled with excitement, injuries, setbacks, and confusion, Roki Sasaki has somehow found himself one of the Los Angeles Dodgers' key bullpen arms heading into an NLDS showdown against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The most in-demand international amateur free agent to hit the MLB ranks since his now-teammate Shohei Ohtani, Sasaki has beautifully transitioned over to the bullpen in the month of September, building on some strong showings in OKC to become a certified bullpen option for the Dodgers.
Now sporting a perfect bullpen ERA heading into the NLDS, how did Sasaki end up a potential option to close out games for the Dodgers in October? Well, in his media availability before Game 1, President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman broke down Sasaki's path, explaining how he was able to get back on track after some early struggles.
“Yeah, I mean, I think it you know kind of goes back to you know early in the season, delivery was kind of out of whack a little bit and we've seen it a lot with guys guys that have had hamstring injuries or oblique injuries or different things that in that build-up there's subconscious protection of that and sometimes deliveries can get somewhat out of whack and then that becomes kind of muscle memory and it's hard to unwind. And you couple that with a player coming over from Japan, and it takes time to build a relationship, it takes time to create that trust,” Friedman explained.
“And then you compound that with some shoulder soreness, and I think all of it kind of led to this process where we ended up in a really good spot, but it takes some time. The biggest and most important thing was to get him back feeling right, and then once that happened, then it was okay, let's attack the delivery and try to get that back in place, and it took a little while but I think once we saw that click is where it's like, okay, this is a very viable option to you know, be a really talented pitcher who can help us get really important outs.”
Taking the mound for his first taste of playoff action at the MLB level, Sasaki was dynamite against the Cincinnati Reds in Game 2 of the Wild Card Round, mowing down batters 1-2-3 with two Ks and a shallow pop-up to Mookie Betts at shortstop to secure the final out. If he can perform at that level against the Phillies in the NLDS and beyond, who knows? Maybe the Dodgers will have to have a longer conversation about Sasaki's long-term role heading into the future.
