The Los Angeles Dodgers brought Roki Sasaki over from Japan with all the hype you’d expect. A guy throwing triple digits with a splitter that made hitters look silly. But the last few years have been a rollercoaster. Early on, it was his command that kept him from sticking as a starter. Walks piled up, pitch counts ballooned, and he ended up in the bullpen. That issue seemed to be trending in the right direction this season. But now there’s something else to worry about.
His fastball velocity is dropping.
Jack Harris, a Dodgers beat reporter, flagged it during Sasaki’s last start against the San Diego Padres. He noted that Sasaki’s fastball averaged under 98 mph for the first time since May. And it’s not just a one-time blip. The pitch itself has a relatively flat shape, so without that extra gas, there’s very little margin for error. Against the Padres, that margin evaporated.
Sasaki only lasted three innings. He gave up six runs on seven hits and struck out just three batters. His ERA now sits at 4.88 for the season. That’s not what the Dodgers were hoping for from a guy they viewed as a potential frontline starter.
To be fair, the Dodgers offense bailed him out in a big way. They put up 11 runs through seven innings, most of that after Sasaki left the game. Dalton Rushing drove in three runs. Andy Pages and Max Muncy each knocked in two. At the time of this writing, LA was leading 11-6 heading into the bottom of the eighth. So the team won the game. But the underlying issue is still there.
The concern isn’t just that Sasaki had one bad start. It’s that the velocity drop has been gradual and consistent over recent outings. When a pitcher loses a couple ticks off his fastball without a clear reason — no reported injury, no mechanical tweak that’s obviously backfiring — it raises questions. Is he fatigued? Is he compensating for something else? The Dodgers haven’t said much publicly, but you can bet the coaching staff is digging into the data.
Sasaki has shown flashes this year. He’ll have a start where everything clicks and you remember why he was so hyped. But he hasn’t been able to string those together. Consistency is the thing separating him from being a reliable big league starter right now.
The Dodgers will keep running him out there and hope he figures it out. But if the velocity doesn’t bounce back, they might have to rethink how they use him. Either way, his next outing is going to get a lot of attention.
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