Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki remains upbeat after another difficult start

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Watch Roki Sasaki pitch, and sirens are blasting in your head.

There are times he’s nowhere near the zone. Many of the pitches he throws for strikes might as well have signs on them reading, “Hit me.” He doesn’t look confident.

Listen to Sasaki speak, however, and you can visualize him recovering from his latest desert Waterloo to become a dependable starter by opening day.

He projects confidence. He explains what went wrong in minute detail. He breaks down the adjustments will make.

So, if you’re the Dodgers, what do you believe? What you see? Or what you hear?

At this point, the two-time defending World Series champions have to trust what their second-year right-hander is saying.

Their pitching depth has already been reduced, with Blake Snell and Gavin Stone ruled out for opening day. Unless Sasaki is Lance-Lynn-on-the-Dodgers awful over the remainder of spring training, he will be in their rotation.

Manager Dave Roberts’ insistence that Sasaki is a lock to be one of the team’s five or six starting pitchers feels like an enormous leap of faith, considering how the 24-year-old has looked in his first two Cactus League starts.

Sasaki pitched his second game of the spring on Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians, and it was arguably worse than his erratic performance six days earlier.

Sasaki didn’t register an out in the first inning, walking three of the five batters he faced. He gave up a grand slam to Kyle Manzardo, which was followed by a five-pitch walk to David Fry. Roberts removed him with the intention of sending him back to pitch in the second inning, as is permitted by exhibition game rules.

Of the 23 pitches Sasaki delivered in the first inning, only eight were strikes.

“Before the game, I had a good feel playing catch and throwing in the bullpen,” Sasaki said in Japanese. “Even in the game, my delivery as a whole was good. But I felt something was a little off.”

Two pitches into the second inning, he figured out what it was.

“I had a sense that my upper body was learning a little toward third base,” he said. “When I fixed that, my breaking balls and fastball started going over the plate.”

He retired the side in the second inning and did so again in the third.

His final line: Two-plus innings, four runs, two hits, three walks and two strikeouts. He touched 99.3 mph. He threw 45 pitches, 21 for strikes.

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“If you go by just the results, of course it’s not good,” Sasaki said.

But he was upbeat about how he pitched.

Describing how his delivery was a mess in his previous start because he was too conscious about incorporating everything he worked on over the winter, Sasaki said he focused on his lower body during his pitching motion. He thought that went well, pointing to how the ball felt coming out of his hand.

“They were balls, and I know it’s weird to say this, but there are pitches that are balls that don’t feel bad,” he said.

The average velocity of Sasaki’s four-seam fastball was 98.0 mph, a couple of ticks up from his last start. Sasaki was also pleased with how he was able to make the adjustment he made in the second inning.

Sasaki’s control problems remain something of a mystery. He averaged fewer than two walks per nine innings with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese league, a number that jumped to 5.45 last year.

Roberts speculated that wasn’t because his control worsened.

“I think major league command is different,” Roberts said. “I say that as far as getting the ball down when it’s supposed to be down. I just feel the hitters here are better, top to bottom. It’s not just control. It’s command. It’s not about just walking guys. It’s about putting the fastball where you want it.”

Sasaki offered a different view.

“When I’m doing well, my speed and control are good anywhere,” he said.

He said that when pitched well in Japan, he could never explain why. He said he was guided more by feel than words or ideas. Over the last couple of seasons, he said, he lost that feel.

“There are still bad habits that I picked up from when my delivery has broken down over these last two years,” he said. “Skill alone won’t fix that. I think you have to train to make it part of yourself. I think that if I pile up practices and games, it’ll come more naturally and I’ll be able to throw without thinking. I have to be patient until I reach that point.”

At the same time, he said he understood the importance of producing results in games, even if they’re in the exhibition season.

“What I’m lacking right now are experiences of success,” Sasaki said. “In that regard, I think it’s definitely necessary for me to be able to pitch the way I can pitch and get results in a major league environment.

“At the same time, I think it’s better if I don’t focus too much on getting immediate results. Even if I don’t do well in the exhibition season, I think the priority has to be for me to pick up skills that will give me confidence throughout my career.”

The Dodgers are trusting he knows what he’s talking about. They’re betting the fireballer isn’t blowing hot air. 

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