On Saturday at Dodger Stadium, the 23 -year -old right -hander, Roki Sasaki, took the mound for the fourth start of his long -awaited recruit season and delivered his best performance to date, only granting a round in five work rounds. Unfortunately for his team, the strongest start of Sasaki at this point was also the first to lead to a loss in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers won the first three departures of Sasaki despite his relative difficulties, but they failed to provide him with racing support on Saturday against the Cubs, then the enclosure of the LEVERS imploded entirely in late ends, which led to A rout 16-0 in favor of Chicago Despite Sasaki's stellar effort. Consequently, Sasaki has his first defeat and is still looking for his first victory as a launcher starting from the big league.
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While the unique circumstances of his MLB jump means that Sasaki is on the same League-Minimum contract as colleagues Hurlers recruit Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius, the immense media threshing surrounding his arrival amplified the degree to which the first outings of Sasaki were examined. No, he does not need the same monumental monetary investment as his teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but the development of Sasaki is followed at the quasi-quota as closely as that of any recent memory launcher.
So, after four departures, 13⅔ launched sleeves and 64 faders faced, what have we learned? This sample is hardly large enough to make drastic statements in his long -term career, not to mention the rest of this season. But it is enough to obtain an early gauge on Sasaki's trends, which worked well for him and what he will have to improve as his recruit season progresses.
Let's dive.
Tips
During its four seasons in Japan, Sasaki drew almost exclusively on three throws: a quick ball with four seams of the 90s, a cursor of the mid-80s and a spectacular separator in the range of 88-89 MPH which was largely considered to be one of the most devastating outstanding terrains on the planet.
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Via the deltagraphs, here is a look How the sasaki arsenal has evolved During his stay at NPB:
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2021
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Quick ball: Use of 60%, average of 95 MPH
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The separator has always been Sasaki's favorite secondary offer, and he relied on his quick ball less in his last season in Japan. It was perhaps a response to its slight drop in speed in 2024, a sasaki trend Appointed during his free agency As something, he focused on fixing with his new team.
With its previous pitch mix, what was Sasaki's repertoire like a major feature like?
The use of the four sasaki runners was restored closer to the place where she was earlier in her career, while her use of cursor returned to a distant third party. The speed, although still classifying in the 90th cm among the MLB arms, has not yet fallen to the heights presented in 2023. Perhaps more particularly, the average speed of the separator and the sasaki cursor is both a few notches below where they were in Japan. It is probably too early to put too much stock in the readings of firearm weapons while Sasaki continues to strengthen his workload, but these first notes will be worth revisited later this summer.
Aside from speed, the arrival of the separator outside competition from Sasaki and its high dose of deployment are a convincing data point in a league trend: the use of separators has increased significantly in baseball in recent years. From 2015 to 2022, separators never represented more than 1.9% of the total land launched in MLB during the regular season. But so far this year, 3.8% of the locations launched were separators – a jump to which Sasaki contributed.
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Even with the increased use of separators across the league, Sasaki's launcher distribution makes its arsenal relatively unique, in particular for a starting launcher. It is one of the handles of beginners that rely on a separator like Their secondary landas well as Japanese compatriots Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga. But there is really only one starting launcher whose repertoire closely reflects the specific balance of Sasaki's offers, and it is the right of Blue Jays Kevin Gausman:
It is a surprisingly similar mixture of height, although there are differences in the release points of the two launchers and the movement profiles. Sasaki throws much harder and a higher arm angle, while the heights of Gausman have much more rotation at all levels. However, the Gausman Splitter-Forward attack could serve as a rough model for the genre of the launcher that Sasaki could grow.
There are also some crucial pieces to keep in mind when evaluating Sasaki stuff. On the one hand, the evolution of its mixture of pitch is a process in progress, which is sure to be influenced by its new environment. MLB uses a different bullet from NPB, the one that is slightly larger and less sticky. Sasaki is still in the first stages to determine how his heights move when launched with the MLB ball, and he is in the early stages of understanding how his repertoire plays against the best strikers on the planet, who are much more used to high -end speed than Sasaki's enemies at NPB. He will also continue to modify his attack plan according to his opponent; We have only seen him face three teams so far, including the Cubs twice.
Roki Sasaki launched five ball rounds at a race on Saturday against the Chicago Cubs. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(Gina Ferazzi via Getty Images)
The results
A generous interpretation of Sasaki's performance so far is that it has actually been wild. His ERA of 3.29 suggests that he managed to keep the opponents relatively in check despite his serious launch gaps, as evidenced Among the worst baseball. A more pessimistic evaluation of the young law would insist that this degree of savagery is completely unbearable if he had to remain a viable candidate to start the dodgers regularly, not to mention the section while the issues continue to climb.
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The truth is probably somewhere between these initial assessments. No, Sasaki cannot continue to walk a fifth of the strikers he faces and expects to find success as a big league. Of course, Luis Gil won the recruit of the year with the highest walking rate In baseball (min. 100 IP) last season, but it only walked 12% of opposite strikers. Sasaki will have to drag his control considerably, it is therefore encouraging that its shot launch has improved with each departure, allowing it to go further in the games:
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March 19 against Cubs: 3 rounds, 56 locations, 25 strikes (45%)
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March 29 against tigers: 1⅔ sleeves, 61 locations, 32 strikes (52%)
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April 5 against Phillies: 4 rounds, 68 locations, 41 strikes (60%)
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April 12 against Cubs: 5 rounds, 81 locations, 50 strikes (62%)
At the same time, there is comfort to find in the fact that most Sasaki problems so far have been self-inflicted. Yes, his propensity to emit free pass has resulted in a stressful amount of traffic on the bases, but it is not as if the strikers opposed it to fall around the stadium; Michael Busch's circuit on Saturday was the first extra-basic hit that Sasaki had gone to four starts.
In addition, the very publicized separator of Sasaki was largely up to invoicing, Exposing an unprecedented movement and record an odor rate of 46% that already ranks among the best any individual offer in MLB. Its radiator, however, has not demonstrated almost the same level of efficiency: among 63 launchers who threw at least 100 four couts, Sasaki The factory rate of 11.8% on its fast ball ranks 58th. It should be noted that his teammate Yamamoto ranks 62nd on the same list, but the much higher command of Yamamoto and Arsenal deeper have allowed more success until now this season. It is a reminder that launchers can succeed without swinging and missing on their fast ball, but they have to do many other things.
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If Sasaki's quick ball continues to be more struck in MLB than in NPB, the development of its cursor will become essential as an alternative means of coaxing the buffoons, alongside its separator. More broadly (and above all), if Sasaki and the Dodgers can continue to refine his command, this should raise the effectiveness of the three locations, because opposite strikers are obliged to respect its ability to locate them in the striking area.
What is the next step?
If we assume that Sasaki will remain on its start schedule – on Saturday, its next outing will come this weekend against the Rangers in the Globe Life Field, followed by a start at home on April 26 against the modest pirates. Texas is a fascinating enemy for Sasaki, because the Rangers offensive currently ranks 30th in mlb in the walking rate and has seriously underperformed compared to the talented staff in place. The way in which Sasaki control problems are manifested against a program that has so far been relatively little willing to take free passes will be interesting, and we will see if its number of heights continues to increase.
For Sasaki, each departure represents another chance to improve because it gradually learns what it takes to succeed at the highest level. It is clearly still understanding what works and what is not against the best strikers on the planet, and its arsenal and its command are sure to continue to evolve in the months and years to come. That said, with the dodgers already at the heart of a heated race of NL West, the development of Sasaki in a reliable rotation option, rather than a recruit of work in progress, could be more important for the collective success of the team than expected – and this makes each and each of its departures all the more intriguing as the season takes place.
