Roki Sasaki Scouting Report: Full Breakdown of Dodgers Free Agent Target
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been linked to Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki throughout the offseason. While every club is interested in the 23-year-old pitcher, there is a general consensus around the league that the Dodgers are the presumed favorites.
The Dodgers recently met with Sasaki and his agent, Joel Wolfe. In a conversation with Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain, Dodgers broadcaster Jose Mota gave a full breakdown of the Japanese star
“This guy’s pretty special, man, but also ability to pitch inside. I saw him pitch inside. I love the ability to do that, not hitting guys or setting up everything else in the outer half of the corner, against right to the lefties, to make him feel himself more efficient.
“He wants the baseball. Here’s one thing too, though, the time that I’ve seen him, and some of the reports I’ve gotten, is he wants to be a guy that’s standing there in the seventh inning. And not looking in the bullpen after four and the third or five innings and go, ‘I think I’ve had enough’. I think we see that with Shohei, you will see that with Shohei. You see that with Yamamoto, more and more.”
Mota described Sasaki to be a pitcher with deception and velocity, two aspects that make him special. There are rumblings Sasaki could very well be the greatest starting pitcher to come out of Japan.
“A lot of deception, look at this arm swing, arm slot, movement and stride, and you’ll go, you’ll see a lot of things before you see the baseball. On top of that, velocity, you’ve got some rise, you got some movement laterally. And then the splitter is different than other splitters, because it’s like one of those bottoms that drops off. And it’s not a splitter that glides in. It just disappears and drops off big. They call it a heavy-bottom splitter, because the way he executes and the way his arms permeate the baseball. And certainly because of the looseness of his body, he’s one of those guys that it’s like a double-jointed kind of thing, where he is able to just maneuver the baseball on so many ways and surges body in so many ways, and maybe that’s why he’s had some of these early injuries.”
Throughout four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, Sasaki posted a 29-15 record with a 2.10 ERA and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Last season, he dealt with some injury issues but went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA.
Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
