Dave Roberts Tells Non-Roster Invite He’s Traveling With Dodgers to Japan in Incredible Moment
Matt Sauer didn’t know what to think when Dave Roberts made his way from the dugout to the mound Friday night against the Seattle Mariners.
Sauer had just given up four runs without recording an out in the ninth inning, and frustration was setting in.
Rather than the Los Angeles Dodgers skipper just taking the ball and giving Sauer a pat on the bum, Roberts turned the moment into something memorable, telling the non-roster invitee that he had made the Tokyo Series roster.
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“I’m a little upset. I’m competing. Just had a pretty bad inning. And then Doc walks out there, and he gets to the mound and smiles,” Sauer said. “So I’m a little confused at first.
“Then he grabbed me around the waist and broke the news. Then I had a big smile on my face. But I was also trying to be, like, pissed. I just had a terrible inning.”
In December, the San Luis Obispo, Calif., native joined the Dodgers’ minor league system with a spring training invite. Over four spring appearances, he has thrown 7.2 innings, giving up 10 hits and seven earned runs while striking out eight.
Growing up a Dodgers fan and joining the 31-player roster heading to Tokyo has him believing his career is taking a turn for the better.
“One of the reasons I signed here was because of the staff and the development they could do with guys,” Sauer said. “I thought they could really just bring my career on the uprise.”
Sauer’s journey to that moment has been an adventurous one. He was selected by the New York Yankees in the second round of the 2017 draft and progressed through the minor leagues before making his MLB debut last season after being acquired by the Kansas City Royals in the Rule 5 draft.
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Sauer struggled during his time with the Royals, posting a 7.71 ERA with nine strikeouts over 16.1 innings across 14 games. He was returned to the Yankees and spent the remainder of 2024 in the minors.
Since Roberts shared the news with Sauer, the reliever immediately began thinking about his mother, Tammy, who was born on an Air Force base in Okinawa and hasn’t been back to Japan since she was a baby.
“It would be awesome to get my mom over there,” he said
Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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