Roki Sasaki pulled from Dodger Stadium debut in 2nd inning
LOS ANGELES — Roki Sasaki’s career with the Dodgers is not off to a sensational start.
For a young pitcher who has been a dominant force at every other step in his meteoric baseball career, that’s both a surprise and a challenge.
Sasaki’s Dodger Stadium debut ended in the second inning Saturday night after the touted right-hander again struggled with his control against the Detroit Tigers. He issued four walks and got only five outs while throwing 61 pitches to 12 batters before manager Dave Roberts pulled him.
Sasaki made his major league debut last week against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, where he walked five in three innings while throwing just 25 strikes among 56 pitches. Back in Los Angeles, he allowed two runs and three singles while throwing 32 strikes and repeatedly falling behind the Tigers early in counts.
Sasaki didn’t blame nervousness for his wildness, although his manager and catcher said it had to be a factor.
“I felt like I was able to get into the game pretty well, without any nerves,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I just didn’t feel like I had the stuff today.”
It’s far too early for the Dodgers to worry seriously about Sasaki, but the 23-year-old prospect touted as Japan’s most impressive young pitcher in several years has not yet found his groove with Los Angeles.
Aside from control issues for a pitcher who consistently hit the strike zone throughout his tenure with the Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki isn’t getting consistency from his splitter, which can be unhittable at its best.
“We have full faith in him,” catcher Will Smith said. “He’s a super-talented pitcher. He knows what he’s doing. He’s pitched on the biggest stages and stuff like that. So back to the drawing board. Have a good bullpen this week, and I expect him to come back out in five, six days and be dominant.”
A crowd of 51,788 roared for Sasaki before his first pitch at Chavez Ravine, but he struggled to settle in from the start of his 41-pitch first inning. Detroit had five baserunners and scored twice. Manuel Margot got credit for an RBI single on a 30-foot squib, and Trey Sweeney drew a 10-pitch walk with the bases loaded.
“Dodger Stadium is intimidating,” Smith said. “There’s four decks here. It’s loud. It’s fun. It takes a lot to be able to perform here. Again, we have full confidence in Roki. He’ll settle in. He’ll start pitching better. He’ll start dominating soon. It’ll be really good for us.”
Sasaki issued two more walks in the second, and Roberts decided to end this debut before it got ugly.
“All he’s known is success, and so I think that he’s certainly upset, disappointed,” Roberts said. “But you’ve got to be a pro and get back to work, and it’s not the first time that the starting pitcher has had two bad outings. This is all a learning curve.”
Not everything was poor against the Tigers for Sasaki, who blew a 97 mph fastball past Riley Greene for one of his two strikeouts. Zach McKinstry’s leadoff single was the Tigers’ only hard-hit ball.
But it’s clearly not what Sasaki had in mind when he decided to leap stateside with the defending World Series champion Dodgers, who have said from the start that Sasaki’s development is far from finished.
“I don’t expect myself to be able to fix everything in a short period of time,” Sasaki said. “With that being said, though, I am going to be pitching every week, so I do expect as a major league pitcher to be able to put up quality outings. But it’s something I can expect myself to work on throughout.”
Jack Dreyer replaced Sasaki and got out of the second-inning jam, striking out Kerry Carpenter on four pitches. Los Angeles’ formidable lineup and bullpen easily covered for Sasaki’s struggles, powering to a 7-3 win and keeping the Dodgers (5-0) perfect to start the season.
Sasaki’s next start is next weekend at Philadelphia. He will have time to work on his issues in the upcoming weeks, because the Dodgers have enough days off in April to keep Sasaki on a comfortable rest schedule.
Although the club has no firm timetable for Shohei Ohtani to join the rotation, the National League MVP threw a bullpen Saturday as he ramps up toward a possible return to the mound in May. When Ohtani returns, the Dodgers likely will go to a six-man rotation.
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani still ‘a ways away’ from pitching
Shohei Ohtani is last, but certainly not least, to get his World Series ring from the Dodgers’ 2024 title. (0:40)
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani threw his first bullpen session in a month on Saturday, but the reigning National League MVP still has plenty to do before he takes the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani threw more than 20 pitches in the bullpen at Dodger Stadium after throwing long toss in the outfield. The two-way superstar was also in his customary leadoff spot in the Dodgers’ lineup as the designated hitter for their series finale against the Detroit Tigers.
He hadn’t thrown off a mound since Feb. 25, when he paused his pitching work in spring training to prepare for the regular season as a hitter. Ohtani has still thrown regularly on flat ground in the ensuing month.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said earlier in the year that Ohtani might make his pitching debut for the Dodgers by May, but he reiterated Saturday that there’s no firm timeline.
“It’s going to be a while,” Roberts said. “I think that you start with the natural progression of a bullpen [session], and you’ve got to then mix different pitches in to face hitters again. So I don’t have a timeline. I don’t think anyone does, but we’re a ways away.”
Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a major league game since he had surgery on his right elbow in September 2023 during his final month with the Los Angeles Angels. He had more surgery on his left shoulder last November after recording the first 50-homer, 50-stolen base season in major league history and leading the Dodgers to their World Series championship.
The Dodgers have the luxury of time with Ohtani, who is in the second season of his 10-year, $700 million contract. He already has two homers among his six hits with a 1.286 OPS in the first four games of the new season.
Los Angeles’ rotation is loaded with newcomers Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki pitching alongside Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dustin May.
But the Dodgers have a lengthy recent history of serious injuries to their starting pitchers, and Ohtani’s return likely will allow the team to establish a six-man rotation because Ohtani won’t take up a roster spot as a pitcher.
“I think that we’re still a very good club with him as a DH, obviously,” Roberts said. “We still want him to pitch. He wants to pitch, and I do think that he can handle it. He’s done it in the past. I think the question is, ‘How much do we need him right now?’ And I think we’ve answered that. His health is most important. It’s paramount, and so whenever that time is, his buildup reaches that full maturation, he’ll pitch for us.”
