Los Angeles Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki last appeared for the team on May 9, spending the last three and a half months sidelined by a shoulder injury. But the rookie righty had an encouraging rehab start on Tuesday, showing signs of improvement.
Manager Dave Roberts is closely monitoring the situation. “Each start has been better,” he noted following Sasaki’s third rehab outing, per Dodgers reporter Bill Plunkett.
Roberts expects Sasaki to take the mound for the team’s Triple-A affiliate one more time. “And then it’ll be a real conversation on what it looks like for him potentially coming back to us,” Roberts said.
Roki Sasaki nearing return to Dodgers’ rotation
The first-year hurler joined a number of Dodgers pitchers on the injured list in mid May. Sasaki was then moved to the 60-day IL in June. At the time LA was running out of healthy starters. However, the team’s rotation is finally in good shape with Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw and Shohei Ohtani rejoining Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The pitching staff’s return to health allows the Dodgers to exercise patience with Sasaki. So far that patience appears to be paying off.
The 23-year-old starter struggled early in his rehab assignment. Sasaki’s velocity was down as his fastball was clocked in the low 90s and he lasted just two-plus innings. However, in his most recent outing he averaged over 96 mph on his fastball, getting it up near 99 mph.
Still, Sasaki lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed three runs. The Dodgers’ goal is to build the young pitcher back up to five innings. The team does not intend on moving Sasaki to the bullpen, preferring to keep him in the rotation.
Fortunately, the Dodgers finally have a healthy rotation. And the team’s pitching is improving, as Kershaw had an exceptional month of August. So there’s no need to rush Sasaki back if he’s still struggling to get through four innings.
The Dodgers are in a heated divisional battle with the San Diego Padres. After briefly losing the lead in the NL West, LA is back up by 1.5 games. The team is looking to make another deep postseason run and doesn't want to do anything that might compromise Sasaki’s availability in September and October.
