Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki is entering a season with massive expectations after a rollercoaster rookie year that had extreme highs and lows.
Sasaki began 2025 as a starting pitcher for the Dodgers, bypassing the minor leagues despite his young age and lack of familiarity with stateside baseball.
He has problems with velocity consistency and location, and his pitch arsenal consists of only two legitimate pitches.
After a rough handful of starts, he was placed on the injured list, where he remained for months before coming back towards the end of the regular season.
Upon his return, he became a dominant reliever, but he aspires to be a quality starter, which the organization also envisions for him.
As soon as Sasaki stepped foot in the Dodgers’ Spring Training facility, all eyes were on Sasaki to see what improvements and changes he had made — most notably, any new pitches.
An interesting new pitch for Roki Sasaki
During his first outing of Spring Training on Wednesday, Feb. 25, Sasaki threw 27 pitches, good for 1.1 innings of work. He gave up three earned runs, three hits, and had two strikeouts with a walk.
It was not a good outing for the Japanese pitcher, especially after all of the anticipation of a full offseason and dedicated work with the Dodgers.
Sasaki did, however, unveil the hidden third pitch that he was hinting at adding. The pitch is a cutter, which he threw seven times during the game.
It has been referred to as a “gyro-slider” or “gyro-cutter” by some, but regardless of how it is described, it is meant to provide lateral movement to complement his fastball and vertically dropping splitter.
Additionally, Sasaki threw four sinkers, a pitch he threw only two times during his rookie season. He is clearly aiming at expanding his options and giving hitters different looks, and there is no better time to experiment than the spring.
The long-term plan for Sasaki remains unclear in terms of his arsenal, whether he will be adding the sinker as a viable fourth pitch, but the cutter is seemingly going to be a staple going forward.
Dodgers fans should be excited about the tinkering going on with Sasaki, and over time, these growing pains should pay off.
