Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki is currently dealing with a shoulder injury. The Dodgers' pitching rotation is hoping that Sasaki can return sooner rather than later. Although the latest update from manager Dave Roberts offers some encouragement, the pitcher's injury timeline still remains uncertain, via Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.

“Roki Sasaki is ‘feeling really good,' Roberts said, but TBD on what his next steps are,” Harris wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Sasaki, 23, is in his rookie season at the MLB level. The Japanese star was one of the top pitching free agents this past offseason. He ultimately signed in LA with the Dodgers, something that led to extremely high expectations.

However, Sasaki struggled before suffering his shoulder injury. Across eight starts, he pitched to a lackluster 4.72 ERA, striking out 24 hitters and walking an alarming amount of 22 batters in his 34.1 innings of work.

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Still, anyone who has watched Sasaki pitch understands how high his ceiling is. The right-handed pitcher could become a Cy Young candidate if he develops consistency at the big league level. He certainly isn't the first rookie with high expectations to struggle to begin a career.

For Sasaki, the primary focus at the moment is on returning to full health. He will worry about performance once he's able to begin pitching on a big league mound once again.

As for the Dodgers, Los Angeles holds a 6.5 game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the National League West heading into Saturday afternoon's game against the Kansas City Royals. The NL West was quite competitive to begin the '25 campaign between the Dodgers, Giants and San Diego Padres. Los Angeles is beginning to establish dominance in the division, something that was expected following a big offseason.

The Dodgers and Royals will go head-to-head at 4:10 PM EST on Saturday in Kansas City.