LOS ANGELES – Roki Sasaki’s extremely anticipated rookie season has taken one other disappointing flip.
The Dodgers positioned Sasaki on the 15-day injured record with a proper shoulder impingement on Tuesday previous to their collection opener in opposition to the Athletics. Proper-handed reliever J.P. Feyereisen was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis in a corresponding transfer.
Sasaki, 23, averaged 94.8 mph on his fastball in his final begin in opposition to Arizona on Might 9, down greater than 1 mph from his season common. He allowed 5 hits and 5 runs in 4 innings and didn’t report a strikeout for the primary time in his temporary Main League profession.
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Sasaki felt soreness in his arm after the sport. Sasaki didn’t throw his scheduled bullpen session on Tuesday earlier than being formally positioned on the IL.
“Bodily, he was a little bit bit sore afterwards, and that is one thing that we’re nonetheless type of making an attempt to determine,” Roberts mentioned. “You recognize, what’s regular, what’s type of not regular. … We need to make it possible for he is in a great place, bodily and mentally.”
Armed with a triple-digit fastball and a devastating splitter, Sasaki emerged as the most recent pitching phenom from Japan and was hotly pursued by practically each MLB staff after being posted final winter.
The Dodgers in the end received the Sasaki sweepstakes and inserted him instantly into their beginning rotation. The expectation, each throughout the Dodgers group and all through MLB, was that Sasaki would make an prompt MLB influence like his predecessors and new teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.
As an alternative, Sasaki’s rookie season has been a wrestle. He’s 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight begins for the Dodgers. He’s pitched 34 1/3 innings – a median of lower than 4 1/3 innings per begin – and has practically as many walks (22) as strikeouts (24).
Most notably, his common fastball velocity has been down 3-4 mph from its peak in Japan.
Roberts mentioned he felt Sasaki’s decline in velocity was due partly to bodily issues, together with mechanical points.
“I feel it’s a combo,” Roberts mentioned. “I feel that there’s a command element. I feel there’s a making an attempt to go on the market and compete each fifth or sixth day or sixth or seventh day to get Main League hitters out.
“We’re nonetheless making an attempt to have conversations to see the place he’s at. As a result of on the finish of the day, we need to be certain that he’s performing as much as his capabilities and as much as our capabilities and our expectations. So there’s type of a variety of issues that we’re making an attempt to suss out proper now.”
