Add The California Post on Google A “fight or flight” moment, as manager Dave Roberts described it, arose for Roki Sasaki in the fourth inning on Wednesday.
This time, the young right-handed phenom finally showed the Dodgers what they have been looking for.
In his second MLB season, Sasaki’s performance in the Dodgers’ rotation can be easily summed up: “Inconsistent,” Roberts said. “Room for growth.”
At times, he has looked like a future star, firing 100 mph fastballs and knee-buckling splitters. At others, he has seemed like a lost cause, unable to command pitches or maintain his delivery or –– most importantly –– grind his way out of tough spots.
That last point, as much as anything, is what had bothered Roberts most during Sasaki’s latest recent downturn, with a string of four bad starts pushing his ERA back to 5.40.
Yes, the Dodgers believed the 24-year-old had been tipping his pitches, especially in his most recent outing against the Padres. And no, they didn’t think his mechanics were completely synced up, leading to a dip in velocity and scatter-shot command around the zone.
But still, Roberts noted before Wednesday’s game, there was no excuse for Sasaki not being better at simply competing.
“I think for me it’s execution,” he said. “Just going out there and compete. The mechanics part of it – that’s done. That’s all done in the week leading up to your start. Now it’s just about competition.”
Thus, in the top of the fourth, Sasaki’s biggest test arrived.
Having already blown an early three-run lead against the Colorado Rockies, the Japanese phenom was on the verge of implosion with runners at second and third and no outs in the inning, staring down the kind of disaster scenario he has so often suffered this season.
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This time, however, Roberts could sense a shift in his starter. No trepidation. Just focus and conviction in every throw.
“I was just focused on trying to hit my spot,” Sasaki said afterward through an interpreter.
“It was good to see him just bow his neck and go compete,” Roberts added.
Indeed, what followed was one of the most encouraging sequences of Sasaki’s entire season, escaping the jam unscathed with back-to-back strikeouts and a fly ball to right.
It wasn’t perfect pitching. Sasaki got away with a hanging splitter to his first batter, Troy Johnston, before blowing him away with two upper-90s mph heaters. He let an 0-2 count go full to his next hitter, Edouard Julien, before finally ringing him up on a backdoor slider.
“I feel like I need to work on offspeed pitches especially,” Sasaki noted. “If I had better stuff right there, I think I would be able to pitch a little easier.”
All that really mattered, though, was that Sasaki didn’t wither. Instead, he went on to retire six more in a row over the remainder of his night, turning a near-implosion into a quality six-inning, three-run stat line.
“To get out of that inning, you could see the demeanor walking off the mound, the confidence,” Roberts said. “[He was] wanting for more.”
Sasaki will get more opportunities after the All-Star break, having done enough to survive a rollercoaster first half in the Dodgers rotation despite a 3-5 record and 5.33 ERA.
Asked to evaluate Sasaki’s performance thus far this year, Roberts even conjured a positive spin on Wednesday night.
“I think there’s improvement,” he said, despite the inconsistencies he also earlier noted. “I do think that from the outset of the season to as we sit here on July 8, he’s a grade and a half better than what he was when he started the season.”
There are still many more grades to go, of course. And Sasaki’s rotation spot won’t be secure forever, as a healthy Dodgers pitching staff would likely push him out of a starting role come the playoffs.
For now, however, he has shown enough signs of progress to keep the Dodgers encouraged; showing just enough fight, at just the right time on Wednesday, to quell the latest round of questions over his long-term development.
“When you look at the numbers, I’m not satisfied with that,” Sasaki said of his own first-half evaluation. “But I was able to keep [a spot in] the rotation, and the velo’s kind of gotten a little bit up. So I’m kind of happy with it.”
