Starting pitcher Roki Sasaki continues to leave the Los Angeles Dodgers with more questions than answers.
Sasaki likely made his final spring-training outing Tuesday, and although he survived the first inning, he still struggled by allowing three runs in just 3 1/3 innings in LA’s 10-4 win over the Kansas City Royals in Surprise, Arizona.
Sasaki allowed 10 earned runs, and walked nine, in 6 2/3 innings (13.50 ERA), despite striking out 10 and finishing with a 1-0 spring-training record.
Though he struck out five against Kansas City, he also walked four and gave up four hits, including a two-run homer in the fourth inning to Luca Tresh.
Roki Sasaki Struggled Again With Walks
Sasaki finally got over the first-inning bugaboo that had been haunting him throughout the spring training — and even dates back to his starts during his rookie season.
But Sasaki’s command was again an issue. He threw just 38 of 71 pitches for strikes (53.5%) and walked the bases loaded in the third inning after the Dodgers staked him to a 3-0 lead on a home run from Dalton Rushing and Andy Pages’ two-RBI single in the second inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removed Sasaki for Nick Robertson after the three straight walks, then went back to Sasaki after Robertson got out of the jam.
It was the second time this spring training that Roberts removed Sasaki in the middle of an inning and went back to him to start a clean inning, but he won’t have that luxury when the regular season starts Thursday.
“I think thereâs progress in the sense that we got him into the fifth inning. The stuff was good, so thatâs continued progress. Pitch count we got up,” Roberts said. “But I think the thing with Roki is, again, you’ve got to be efficient, you’ve got to be able to take down innings and be able to make adjustments sooner.”
Roki Sasaki: Spring Training Results ‘Don’t Really Matter’
Many high-profile pitchers and position players struggle during spring training, and it’s not cause for alarm since fans know what they’re getting when the regular season opened.
Yet, Sasaki’s comments after the game, in which he stated he isn’t worried about his spring-training struggles, were alarming. Sasaki has a 2.70 WHIP and is walking 12.2 per nine innings in the spring training, after issuing 5.5 walks-per-nine innings in his rookie season.
“I have a lot of things I need to work on,” Sasaki told Sonja Chen of MLB.com through an interpreter. “But it’s just spring training, so just keep continuing to work on that. The results in spring training don’t really matter.”
Sasaki told Chen he struggled again while working through his new third pitch, which is being dubbed his sinker, and his fourth-inning exit was a consequence of leg cramping Tuesday.
Roberts echoed Sasaki’s sentiments about spring-training results but did express angst about the budding second-year pitcher’s inability to work through his struggles, which is a huge point of exhibition games.
“Iâm not worried about the results,” Roberts said. “More of just being able to make the in-game adjustments sooner. Because youâre not always going to have your best stuff. Youâre not always going to have the perfect command. But you’ve still got to find a way to get outs.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Dodgers Pitcher Roki Sasaki Sends Strong Message on Spring Struggles appeared first on Heavy Sports.