Roki Sasaki Has Finally Arrived For Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the sweepstakes for Roki Sasaki before last season, but the results were not great.
The phenom was free to sign with any team after posting early from Japan. He chose the Dodgers and showed flashes of brilliance, but overall, he did not live up to expectations. This year was looking like more of the same until July 8.
In his last three starts, Sasaki has a 1.93 ERA and 19 strikeouts. He has walked just four batters over that span. In his first start out of the All-Star Break, he touched triple digits 21 times, which was more than all of his other starts combined. The velocity came back down to earth on Friday’s start against the New York Mets, but he was still dominant. He went seven innings, allowing just one earned run.
The stretch of elite pitching has coincided with a glove change for Sasaki. After allowing six earned runs in three innings against the San Diego Padres, Dave Roberts said the Dodgers were going to do a dive on Sasaki. He felt like the Padres were on everything, and the Dodgers feared he was tipping pitches.
Roki Sasaki Has Finally Arrived For
The Dodgers decided to get him a bigger glove to better hide his grip. Whether that’s the sole reason for the better results is unclear, but something is clearly working. Sasaki downplayed the impact of the glove after his last start.
“Probably my face got smaller,” Sasaki said when asked why the glove looks so much larger than the previous one, per The Athletic’s Katie Woo. “That’s why the glove looks bigger.”
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