After the Los Angeles Dodgers added 23-year-old phenom Roki Sasaki to their team this past offseason, his reputation from four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball preceded him.
Sasaki tossed a 2.10 ERA across four seasons in Japan and caught the interest of 20 MLB teams when he made his intentions known about heading to North America. With 505 strikeouts to just 88 walks in that span, his seemingly unhittable splitter and a fastball that could reportedly hit triple digits wound up in Los Angeles.
More news: Dodgers Infielder ‘Day-to-Day’ After Suffering Injury in NLDS Game 2
The first eight starts for the young right-hander did not quite go as planned, pitching to the tune of a 4.72 ERA and showing visible command issues. To make matters worse, his fastball velocity was averaging just 96.1 mph, and he then went on the injured list for over four months with a shoulder impingement.
After showing the same concerning signs during his Triple-A rehab assignment in August, many were wondering what was going on with Sasaki. In a shocking development, Sasaki raised his fastball velocity more than 4 mph in between rehab starts and was finally looking like the pitcher that Dodgers fans fell in love with.
Due to the starting rotation continuing their dominance as the postseason neared, manager the Dodgers experimented with having Sasaki pitch out of the bullpen. After just two Triple-A relief outings and another two upon his long-awaited return at the end of September, Sasaki was thrust into the postseason.
More news: Former Dodgers GM Reveals How Close LA Was to Losing Clayton Kershaw
Dodgers director of pitching Rob Hill spoke to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on how despite Sasaki getting tons of doubt from the baseball world, he overcame the odds and has thrived in his new role.
“Never, ever write somebody off, never give up on somebody, regardless of how bad the circumstances look,” Hill said. “Because you truly never know.”
Sasaki closed out the Wild Card series against the Cincinnati Reds, and earned his first two career saves in the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies. That did not only make very special MLB history, but he did it in a playoff environment that is historically the most difficult active ballpark to win at.
More news: LA Makes Japanese History, Tommy Edman Injury Update, Alex Bregman to LA?
For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.
