Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki Reacts to First Live Batting Practice, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto Helping Him
Los Angeles Dodgers rookie phenom pitcher Roki Sasaki faced live hitters Wednesday for the first time at the Major League Baseball level.
Sasaki pitched two innings, throwing 27 pitches and getting two strikeouts. He faced 2024 NLCS MVP Tommy Edman, as well as non-roster invites Eddie Rosario and David Bote.
He struck out Rosario — the 2021 NLCS MVP — on back-to-back splitters that generated swings-and-misses.
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After the outing, Sasaki said he felt improvement from his bullpen session.
“I did feel that today went better than I felt in my bullpen,” Sasaki said through his interpreter.
Sasaki pitched in front of quite the crowd, with what felt like the entire team behind home plate watching him pitch. There were also plenty of others around, including manager Dave Roberts, general manager Brandon Gomes, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, and Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe.
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“There were more players behind the plate than I thought, but I wasn’t really nervous,” Sasaki said. “I was just a little surprised to see that many people there.”
As for his stuff, Sasaki said both his velocity and command felt better than his bullpen session. He threw fastballs, splitters, and a couple sliders.
Sasaki also spoke about the impact Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have had on him thus far in camp.
“From the first day of camp they’ve been really helpful in guiding me through all the things that I don’t know about,” Sasaki said. “And as games start I think they’ll be more and more of those things that I don’t know about. So being able to talk to them about those things will be really helpful.”
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Sasaki is expected to face hitters again before getting into Cactus League action. He’s still a candidate to pitch in the second game of the Japan Series against the Chicago Cubs on March 19.
Finally, Sasaki was asked the biggest difference between spring training in Japan versus MLB.
“The fact that there are meetings every morning,” Sasaki joked.
Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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