Things are finally turning around for Dodgers

Between now and October, the Dodgers can be evaluating their more and more healthy pitching employees, making an attempt to determine the best 13 arms for their World Series push.

And for now, they continue to be hopeful that rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki might be half of that combine; writing an sudden finish to what once appeared like a misplaced 2025 marketing campaign.

After being one of the most important tales of the Dodgers’ offseason this winter, Sasaki has turn into more of an afterthought in the eight months since.

Back in January, the Dodgers’ acquisition of the Japanese phenom felt like a coup. The 23-year-old right-hander was billed as a future star in the making. He got here marketed with a 100-mph fastball, devastating splitter and seemingly limitless potential as an ace-caliber pitcher. Most of all, he was a cut price addition financially, requiring only a $6.5-million signing bonus (for six years of group control) after making a uncommon early profession leap from Japan.

The actuality, to this level, has been nowhere close to the expectation.

At the beginning of the season, Sasaki made eight underwhelming begins — with wild command and declining fastball velocity contributing to a 4.72 ERA — before being sidelined by a shoulder impingement.

Since then, he has sat on the injured record and largely light into the background. An important piece of the Dodgers’ long-term plans, sure. But a wild card, at best, to contribute to their World Series protection this fall.

Lately, however, the narrative has began to shift again.

Over the final month, Sasaki has finally began progressing in a throwing program, twice dealing with hitters in current stay batting apply periods. He has one other three-inning simulated recreation scheduled for Friday, after which he may exit on a minor-league rehab project.

And after his early-season struggles to find pitches or attain triple-digit velocities, the Dodgers have been inspired with the adjustments he has made to his supply and pitch combine. In a bullpen session Tuesday, Sasaki hit 96 mph with his four-seam fastball while also showcasing a two-seamer he has added during his time injured.

“I’m expecting to see pounding of the strike zone, conviction behind the throws, and just a better performer,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned of Sasaki, who may rejoin the lively roster close to the tip of August.

“At the end of the day, I just think that Roki has got to believe that his stuff plays here, which we all believe it does.”

The group’s title probabilities, of course, don’t precisely hinge on Sasaki. If their present rotation stays healthy, they need to have more than enough beginning pitching depth to navigate one other deep October run.

But getting Sasaki back would offer some welcome pitching insurance coverage.

He may also be a candidate to ultimately shift to the bullpen, with Roberts leaving open the chance of utilizing him as a hard-throwing reliever come the tip of the season (even though they intend to stretch him out to six innings as starter for now).

“We’re gonna take the 13 best pitchers [into the playoffs],” Roberts mentioned. “If Roki is a part of that in some capacity, then that would be great. And if he’s not, then he won’t be.”

For a lot of the summer time, it appeared like a long shot the Dodgers could be having such conversations about Sasaki at this level.

For all the hype that accompanied his arrival, the outcomes made him appear to be more a long-term project.

In his eight early-season begins, his fastball averaged only 96 mph, and was punished by opposing hitters for its flat, comparatively easy-to-hit form. His slider was a work-in-progress, leaving him without a dependable third pitch.

His go-to splitter did induce the occasional awkward swing from opponents, and garnered a lot reward from teammates. But Sasaki failed to persistently use it to generate chase out of the strike zone.

As a outcome, he pitched from behind in the depend too typically (evidenced by his 24-to-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio). He seemingly lacked confidence to assault opposing hitters over the plate (and gave up six home runs in just 34 ⅓ innings when he did). And once he went down with his shoulder harm (which was related to one that had bothered him during his Japanese profession), the early phases of his rehab didn’t go easily, with Sasaki requiring a pain-relieving injection in June nearly two months after initially going on the IL.

Since then, though, Sasaki has finally turned a nook.

He advised reporters Tuesday that he now has “no pain” and is feeling “better about being able to throw harder” upon his return.

He has used his current ramp-up as an alternative to reset his mechanics, and clean up an arm path that Dodgers personnel believed was affected by his shoulder issues at the beginning of the season.

“What we saw early on is probably not indicative of what everybody expects and has seen from him in the past when he’s been 100%,” pitching coach Mark Prior mentioned.

While out injured, Sasaki has also had an alternative to sit back and watch big-league video games up close, one thing Roberts and Prior insisted could be useful for a younger pitcher who got here to the majors with only 394 profession innings over 4 seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.

“He’s down there in that [dugout] stairwell when we’re at home pretty much all nine innings,” Prior mentioned. “You can’t not learn by just watching and at least having some experience … I think he understands now the importance of, ‘I’ve got to be ahead. I’ve got to attack the strike zone.’ He doesn’t necessarily need it to be executed precisely, but it’s got to be in the strike zone. You can’t be living behind in counts.”

There could also be no larger signal of growth than Sasaki’s embrace of the two-seam fastball.

Before he received damage, it was a pitch that people within the group thought may help keep hitters off his diminished four-seam heater. Prior mentioned that, before Sasaki was shut down, the teaching employees had initiated a dialog about including it to his repotoire.

“Clearly, everybody would love a fast, high-riding four-seam,” Prior mentioned. “But even that being said, these [hitters] have gotten a lot better and know how to attack those things. So just giving them different looks and stuff to lean into and keeping the righties honest, just gives him some flexibilities and some options.”

The hope is that it’ll help Sasaki be more aggressive when he returns, and complement the remaining of his highly-touted arsenal.

That, when coupled with improved health and refined mechanics, will set off a late-season resurgence succesful of making him an option for the postseason roster.

“My every intention is to get back on the major league mound and pitch again,” Sasaki mentioned through interpreter Will Ireton. “With that being said, I do need to fight for the opportunity too. I don’t think that I’ll just be given the opportunity right away.”