GLENDALE, Ariz. — Was Roki Sasaki excited to pitch in a Cactus League game for the first time with the Dodgers on Tuesday night?
You be the judge – his first pitch was a fastball that registered 99.2 mph. During bullpen sessions and live batting practice, his fastball was reported as “mid-90s” by Dodgers coaches.
“This is the best we’ve seen him and you would expect that given he’s now really in compete mode,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The adrenaline is real. We haven’t seen 99 (mph) all spring, so we saw 99 and certainly a lot of swing and miss.”
Sasaki gave up a single and hit a batter in his first inning against the Cincinnati Reds then gave up a double to Elly De La Cruz to start his second inning, walked a batter and threw a wild pitch.
“It was a mixture of excitement and nervousness,” Sasaki said of his emotions at the start. “But once I was on the mound I felt like I was able to focus and able to pitch.”
He did retire six of the final seven batters he faced and hit 99 mph four more times after his initial pitch, averaging 98 mph on his 25 fastballs.
After an unimpressive performance in a live batting practice session against minor leaguers from the Chicago White Sox camp last week, it was validation that Sasaki is ready for the big stage the Dodgers plan to put him on when they open the regular season in Tokyo.
“He’s a young ballplayer in a crazy new environment and obviously a lot of expectations,” Roberts said. “You can talk about the talent. But you still have to go out there and do it.
“I think that it was really good for all of us and most important for him to kind of see what he can do when he’s right against major-league hitting.”
The increased velocity was significant given Sasaki’s own concern about his diminished velocity in the NPB last season. After regularly hitting 100 mph, his fastball velocity dropped to an average of 97 mph in 2024. During his recruiting visits with teams this winter, he gave them a homework assignment, asking them to explain the drop in his velocity and how they would help him recover it.
Tuesday’s velocity was a combination of adrenaline in his first game action and work he has done with the Dodgers’ pitching group, according to Sasaki.
“I really worked hard in The Lab, dug into the mechanical aspect of my form and things I do well and things I wasn’t doing well,” he said, referring to the high-tech indoor training facility at Camelback Ranch that measures pitch characteristics and biomechanics. “I was able to really work on things I wanted to and felt I had a good foundation.
“There’s a few things I was working on during the offseason then coming into camp and working with the pitching coaches, going into some deep dive of what I want to work on – I think today was the fruit of all the hard work that I was able to put in during the offseason and the first part of the spring camp.”
During his time in Japan, scouts also raved about Sasaki’s split-finger fastball. He got eight swings-and-misses in his 46 pitches against the Reds and six of them came on the splitter.
“A couple things that I noticed with big-league hitters – they do hit mistakes and they do take some splits that I threw,” Sasaki said. “But I did feel really good about being able to jam some hitters. As long as I am able to throw quality pitches I should be able to get these guys out.”
CLOSING TIME
The Dodgers have four relievers with 20-save seasons in their past – Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Evan Phillips and Blake Treinen. Roberts has already said he expects Scott to be the primary closer but he doesn’t want to confine the left-hander to that role.
“I still stand by that,” Roberts said Tuesday. “I think Tanner is going to get the brunt of the closing opportunities. I just don’t want to be in a situation where it’s the eighth inning and it makes too much sense to have him pitch that inning, to have somebody behind him.
“It could change, but I think right now I feel good about that.”
FOOT INJURY
Right-hander Edgardo Henriquez was wearing a walking boot on his left foot in the clubhouse before Tuesday’s workout. Roberts said Henriquez injured a metatarsal in the foot and “won’t be ready for the season.”
Roberts did not share details of how Henriquez suffered the injury, calling it “a mishap” that did not occur on a baseball field.
With Phillips, Michael Kopech and Michael Grove not expected to be available at the start of the season, Henriquez was one of the candidates to open the season in the Dodgers’ bullpen. Henriquez made three appearances with the Dodgers last season and struck out five of the 14 batters he faced.
ALSO
Kopech has progressed to throwing off a mound and threw his third bullpen session on Tuesday. “I could see him facing hitters pretty soon,” Roberts said. The right-hander arrived in camp behind schedule after being ill in January and is not expected to open the season on the active roster.