The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a rough first half of the season in terms of pitching injuries, but it appears that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
One of the most coveted players of this past offseason, Roki Sasaki, has been out since May 13 and was recently moved to the 60-day injured list. Although this slams the door on a return before the All-Star break, it shouldn’t exclusively be a negative sign as the 23-year-old recently restarted his throwing program.
Manager Dave Roberts provided the latest on Sasaki after previously asserting that the team was planning for ‘life without him.’ Sasaki has since resumed throwing from either 60 or 90 feet per the skipper.
“I don’t know if it was 60, 90 feet, with the baseball,” Roberts said. “That was a bonus. That was a plus. Chatted with him briefly afterward. He was excited about it.”
Roberts also spoke on how his right-hander has been feeling, which seemed positive compared to past updates.
“I would say pain-free,” Roberts said. “Now it’s just getting the build-up. But most important, he’s pain-free.”
Sasaki was struggling, as many young pitchers do, with command to begin his MLB career, posting a 4.72 ERA and tossing 24 strikeouts to 22 walks. Compared to his numbers in Nippon Professional Baseball — an ERA of 2.10 over four seasons with 505 blistering strikeouts to just 88 walks — it was unfortunately night and day.
Part of why Sasaki seemed to be struggling was that his fastball velocity wasn’t the same as it was in Japan. The young pitcher also revealed last month that he had attempted to pitch through some pain for “weeks,” but didn’t tell the team until his most recent start before landing on the injured list with a shoulder impingement.
His average heater was still 96 mph, which is good for the 78th percentile among active pitchers, but batters had a .253 batting average against it through his eight starts.
As promising as it is that Sasaki has resumed throwing, all fans can do at this stage is hope that he continues his recovery and can once again return to his NPB form in a Dodgers uniform.
