Roki Sasaki has had to deal with a plethora of injury problems in his first season in MLB following an offseason bidding war that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers win the 23-year-old pitcher's services. Sasaki has not pitched in the big leagues since the ninth of May due to a shoulder injury; in his last start in MLB, he threw four innings and allowed five runs in an eventual 14-11 win for the Dodgers.
Sasaki has been on the comeback trail for a while now, which should be music to Dodgers fans' ears. But his role once he returns to the MLB roster remains to be seen, especially when he's being utilized as a reliever at the moment during his rehab stint with the team's Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City.
On Thursday, Sasaki pitched out of the bullpen in a 12-10 win for the OKC Comets. He came on in the fifth inning with his team leading by eight runs, 8-0, which removed some of the pressure during his relief appearance. And it sure looked like the Dodgers youngster was healthy with the way he pitched on Thursday.
Sasaki ended up throwing a shutout inning and he struck out two and induced a weak flyout to left field while walking one. But perhaps the most important thing, as Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times pointed out, Sasaki's fastball was sitting around the 99-mph mark and he even hit 100.1 mph on one pitch. He also induced whiffs or a foul tip on seven of the nine swings he drew from opposing batters.
It's the stuff that Sasaki has that sets him apart from other young prospects, which is why many teams wanted to bring him in this past offseason especially when he would have cost teams a pittance. And with this latest update, it does look like Sasaki is ready to contribute for the Dodgers come October.
Dodgers' Roki Sasaki to continue pitching in relief amid rehab
Sasaki's long-term future in MLB is as a starter, but many talented young pitchers before him started their careers in relief and took off as starters once they blossomed with age. The likes of Chris Sale, David Price, Adam Wainwright, and, more recently, Garrett Crochet come to mind.
Price and Wainwright had their moments in the postseason when they were young, so perhaps Sasaki could do the same for the Dodgers. They are certainly preparing him for a bullpen role, with manager Dave Roberts revealing that the team intends to deploy him out of the bullpen for his next appearance on Sunday, as per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
