Dodgers News: Sasaki Unlikely to Return to Los Angeles This Season

PITTSBURGH, PA—When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, the team had thought they had inked one of the best international pitchers in the history of the sport.

However, so far in 2025, that has been far from accurate.

While Sasaki’s career is not over yet, more fans have finally realized what many scouts had seen in Sasaki even during his dominant time overseas in Japan and during the 2023 World Baseball Classic: he’s an unpolished arm with a near limitless potential.

To many people’s surprise (not), when the Dodgers won the bidding for Sasaki’s services, the team thought he’d make an impact right away or, at worst, be a backend of the rotation arm. So far, it’s been the opposite.

During the first eight starts of his career, the right-hander had posted a mediocre 4.72 ERA, 6.19 FIP, and saw his strikeout numbers decrease drastically to just 15.6 percent.

The once dominant fastball, which clocked in over 100 MPH, had struggled to consistently hit mid-nineties, and his lack of command, as shown by his 1.49 WHIP, explained that Sasaki was not as mechanically sound as initially thought.

After a rough start, the Dodgers decided enough was enough and placed the rookie on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort. Not long after, he was transferred to the 60-day IL, giving him extended time to work on his mechanics and try to revert to that 2023 form.

Fast-forward to now, and Sasaki has finally worked his way back to pitching in games, where yesterday he made his fourth and possibly final rehab assignment with the lone goal of reaching five complete innings.

While Sasaki did reach his inning goal of five, the results were less than desired as the righty allowed four runs off multiple home runs hit in the first inning of play before the game was delayed.

Overall, Sasaki would allow three hits, collect just two punch outs, and allow another two batters.

In four minor league appearances, Sasaki has an 0-2 record, a 7.07 ERA, and a 1.49 WHIP in fourteen innings pitched, a stat line that is not what Los Angeles had hoped.

When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked whether Sasaki is still an option to rejoin the Dodgers sometime this month, the answer was less than positive, shedding some more doubt on a potential reappearance from the top young free agent from last year’s class.

“The performance, the stuff hasn’t been there,” Roberts said. “Against triple-A hitters, you would expect more.”

Sasaki, of course, still figures to be a key piece in the Dodgers’ long-term pitching plans.

“Roki has gone through a lot this year, and he still has a ton of talent,” Roberts said. “We just want to see more.”

Unlike last season, the Dodgers aren’t pressed with the need for pitching depth as their dream-built starting rotation of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been as advertised in the month of August.

“The bar is high right now because we’re in a pennant race, and so to warrant pitching on our staff right now, there’s got to be urgency on his part and really dominant performance.”

Sasaki figured to get one more shot to prove his worth for the 2025 team, but if he has yet to show meaningful results, in the words of Dave Roberts, then it could be the final straw in Sasaki’s season.

It’s not the worst outcome for Sasaki or the Dodgers as the righty can now wash his rookie year, and focus on the 2026 season, and have an entire offseason to work on whatever tweaks he needs to get better.

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