The Dodgers, as manager Dave Roberts had said repeatedly when asked about Roki Sasaki over the season’s first few weeks, knew what they signed up for.
When they signed the 23-year-old Japanese phenom this offseason, the Dodgers were mesmerized with Sasaki’s stuff; from his upper-90s mph fastball to a forkball-grip splitter that their evaluators (like much the rest of the baseball industry) graded as an elite-level pitch.
But they also knew that Sasaki was not a finished product; the kind of developing talent who, with lesser stuff, would almost certainly be in the minors polishing his craft.
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As a result, the challenge for this season, at least, was how Sasaki could keep improving the finer details of his game while acclimating to an immediate transition from Japan to the big leagues.
And in what was easily the best of his three rookie-season starts so far on Saturday, Sasaki finally laid the foundation that could allow for future growth.
Unlike in his first two outings, when Sasaki wildly sprayed his fastball and worked from behind in what felt like every at-bat, the right-hander finally showed some consistent command in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
For the first time, his shotgun fastball actually hit the right locations.
For the first time, he got to go on the attack — as Roberts had hoped he would pregame — and use his wicked splitter as the putaway weapon it’s intended to be.
Over four-plus innings, Sasaki allowed just one run on three hits, all of them singles. After walking nine batters in his first two outings, which lasted a combined 4 ⅔ innings, he issued just two free passes Saturday.
Most of all, with the help of first-pitch strikes to 13 of his 17 batters, and balls on only 27 of his 68 total pitches, Sasaki worked a pitcher’s count to almost everyone he faced. And seemingly every time he got ahead, catcher Austin Barnes quickly dialed up a splitter, using his signature pitch for all four of his strikeouts in the game.
It was the kind of performance the Dodgers envisioned from Sasaki during his early transition to the majors. The kind of effective, if not flawless, execution that should quiet any questions about whether Sasaki needs time in the minors to improve — for now, at least.
Sasaki’s only real trouble came in the first inning, when the Phillies led the game off with back-to-back singles from Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, leading to a quick run.
After that, Sasaki retired his next nine in a row, and 12 of 13 overall, before a borderline walk call and bloop single to right ended his day with no outs in the fifth — an intentionally early hook on a day the Dodgers had a rested bullpen.
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With virtually non-existent command in his first two MLB starts, Sasaki was largely in survival mode then, doing all he could to simply get the ball over the plate on most of his throws.
Saturday was different. With his fastball, Sasaki hit the zone on 25 of 35 throws. And as a result, he threw just one of his 28 splitters from behind in the count — when hitters are more likely to take the late-breaking, knuckleball-esque offering for a ball.
The Phillies still spit on plenty of splitters, swinging at the pitch only 10 times. But when they did try to attack it, they could do nothing with it, whiffing on the pitch five times and recording outs on the only two that were put in play.
The Dodgers’ bats, meanwhile, provided Sasaki with just enough support. Kiké Hernández flipped the early one-run deficit in the second inning, hitting a two-run, go-ahead blast for his third home run of the year (which represent all three of his hits through the first 10 games). Michael Conforto added insurance in the sixth with a solo home run, continuing his strong start to his debut Dodgers season (.308 batting average, 1.111 OPS, five RBIs).
The Dodgers bullpen was also excellent once again, lowering their early-season ERA as a unit to 1.94 with five scoreless innings. The defense chipped in, too, with Teoscar Hernández saving a run on a potential sacrifice fly in the fifth by doubling off Bryson Stott at first base with a strong throw.
Nonetheless, Saturday was all about Sasaki’s improved performance — one that could serve as an auspicious blueprint for the rest of his rookie season.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
