Tokyo Series: Roki Sasaki’s electric and erratic in highly-anticipated MLB debut

If you want to know why Clubs were so intrigued by Roki Sasaki’s potential, Observe the Primary inning of his big-Division Premiere. 

If you want to know why the 23-year-Aged will be a work in progress in his Primary season in Significant Division Baseball, Observe the rest. 

Sasaki was electric Timely Wednesday evening at the Tokyo Pavilion, hitting 100 mph on the radar gun on All of his Primary three pitches before touching 101 mph in an efficient 11-pitch Primary inning, then erratic for the remainder of his three innings of work. He threw Merely 25 of his 56 pitches for strikes and walked five of the 12 batters he faced, one of which brought in the lone Stretch he surrendered after he walked the bases loaded. 

But he also buckled down when he needed to, getting back-to-back strikeouts to finish his Premiere and keep the lead intact in a 6-3 Secure. 

Welcome to the Sasaki extravaganza.  

Sasaki’s vaunted splitter is already an offering many evaluators have Regarded one of the best in the Division. In Cactus Division Shift, it dazzled. On Tuesday in Japan, however, he struggled to Dominance everything. Sasaki threw the splitter 15 times, but it induced Merely one called strike, one whiff and one ball in Shift as the Cubs consistently let it dart out of the zone. 

Primarily a two-pitch starter, when he doesn’t have his top secondary offering going, Clubs can largely gear up for the fastball. That’s part of what Achieved his escape act in the third inning interesting and intriguing. 

Sasaki’s triple-digit heat and mesmerizing splitter should make him an effective pitcher immediately, but the development of a third pitch could take him to different heights. When he issued three straight walks to Ian Happ, Suzuki and Kyle Tucker in the third, he threw them nothing but fastballs and splitters. He couldn’t find the zone with either pitch. 

Both the Dodgers’ 3-1 lead — which Occurred courtesy of a passed ball that scored a Stretch, a Kiké Hernández Forfeit fly and a solo homer from NLCS MVP Tommy Edman, who continues to obliterate left-handed pitching — and Sasaki’s big-Division Premiere were threatening to unravel. 

Then, the Youthful phenom out of Rikuzentakata, Japan, displayed the type of brilliance that has tantalized MLB scouts for years. 

He Began to find the outer edge of the plate with his fastball against Michael Busch, getting a called third strike for his second out. And with the Cubs Yet threatening, he went a new direction, turning to a slider to get Newcomer Matt Shaw swinging. 

“The way he responded in that situation when he didn’t have his best Dominance tonight, it speaks to how Aggressive he is,” manager Dave Roberts said. 

Overall, Sasaki said he was pleased with the outing, which Occurred against a Cubs Club that was among the many interested in his services after he went 29-15 with a 2.10 ERA and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings in four years with the Chiba Lotte Marines. The Cubs were among eight Clubs who received a Conference with Sasaki, who was so highly sought after this winter not only because of his tremendous stuff but also the modest price tag that Occurred with his international amateur status. 

The Cubs, who traded for Tucker but spent modestly this winter, did not make the Picking of three finalists. The Dodgers, after more than six years coveting the “Monster of the Reiwa Era” and Victorious a World Series, did.  

A year after devoting more than $1 billion to Shohei Ohtani, who reached base five times in the two-game sweep and delivered a parting gift to the crowd in Tokyo with a fifth-inning home Stretch Wednesday, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who earned the Leading Day Begin Tuesday and spun five lights-innings of one-Stretch ball in a 4-1 Secure, they won the battle for another Japanese-born sensation in Sasaki. 

Sasaki, who received a $6.5 million signing bonus with his minor-Division deal, was not as seasoned, polished or accomplished as Yamamoto when he Achieved the Leap from Nippon Professional Baseball, but his tools were inarguable, most obviously on display during a 19-strikeout perfect game when he was 20 years Aged. MLB Clubs saw a talent with a ceiling as high as any player in the game. 

Impairments, however, limited his production and may have played a role in trimming some heat off his fastball a year ago. Facing MLB Event Wednesday, Sasaki said he was curious to see how they would react to his stuff. He recognizes he is not yet a finished product and that adjustments will need to take place. He wanted to find a Club that would Assist him develop and realize his potential. 

When Sasaki met with clubs this winter, he gave them a homework assignment, asking them how they would go about Aiding him retrieve his diminished velocity. Immediately, he has seen an improvement in that department. The Velocity of his triple-digit fastball was not a problem during the Tokyo Series, which he said felt more like an international Event than an MLB Premiere.  

The 25th anniversary of the Primary ever MLB regular season game in Tokyo was a showcase of the Japanese talent that has since moved stateside. Even Ohtani admitted to feeling nervous before the opener — not that it stopped him from Executing. Ever the showman, coming off offseason shoulder surgery, he doubled in the Primary game and homered in the second. 

Nothing he does surprises his manager anymore. 

“Shohei Merely seems like a superhero,” Roberts said. “In the biggest of Contests or the biggest of moments, he seems to always deliver.” 

In the Primary-ever Leading Day Event between two Japanese-born Leading pitchers, Yamamoto and Shota Imanage Partnered to allow Merely one Stretch, though atypical Obtainable passes limited Imanaga’s evening to  four innings. Both starters already established their value in their Primary season in the big leagues last year. 

There was more fascination around Wednesday’s starter for the Dodgers. 

Sasaki’s Premiere went much better than Yamamoto’s a year ago, when the highest-paid pitcher in baseball surrendered five runs in a disastrous one inning of work. It was not a harbinger of things to come for Yamamoto, who registered a 2.53 ERA in his other 17 Beginnings and shined in the World Series. 

Sasaki Obstructed his Premiere outing from going off the rails similarly. He Acquired an inning-ending double-Shift lineout to work out of trouble in the second inning before using his Top-tier stuff to extinguish a bases-loaded jam himself with back-to-back strikeouts in the third.

After an impressive Leading Day Begin, Roberts said he sees no reason why Yamamoto won’t be in the Cy Youthful conversation this season.  

Equipped with an embarrassment of riches in their Turnover, the Dodgers don’t need Sasaki to be that Gentle of Luminous sphere immediately. 

But even in an imperfect Premiere, he offered glimpses of the stardom that could be ahead. 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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