Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki, the team’s star international free agent acquisition, made his first appearance of spring training on Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Reds.
After entering to begin the fifth inning following the completion of countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s night, Sasaki delivered three shutout innings, surrendering two hits and a walk and plunking a batter. He struck out five of the 13 batters he faced, requiring 46 pitches along the way.
Sasaki, best known for his velocity and signature splitter, showed off both. His heater averaged 98 mph and topped out at 99.3 mph; his splitter, meanwhile, generated seven whiffs on eight swings taken against it.
Sasaki, at the time of his exit, had the four fastest pitches thrown on the night by either a Dodgers or Reds player, as well as a game-high eight swinging strikes.
Sasaki, 23, joined the Dodgers in January as an international amateur free agent after rising to global stardom in Japan. Over parts of four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines, he amassed a 2.02 ERA and a 5.76 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He first became an international sensation in 2022, when he struck out 19 batters in a perfect game. Sasaki was just 20 years old at the time.
Sasaki is expected to make his regular season debut on March 19, when the Dodgers play the second of a two-game set in Tokyo, Japan against the Chicago Cubs. Fittingly, Yamamoto is expected to start the first of those games. Fellow Japanese star Shohei Ohtani will not return to the mound until May following elbow surgery, meaning that he was not a candidate to start.
Sasaki counts as just one of the defending World Series champions’ many offseason additions. Los Angeles also added two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, outfielder Michael Conforto, South Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim and relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. Additionally, the Dodgers retained outfielder Teoscar Hernández, lefty Clayton Kershaw and reliever Blake Treinen.
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