The numbers still look rough on the surface, but Dave Roberts thinks Roki Sasaki is moving in the right direction.
That’s the tension around the Dodgers right-hander right now. Sasaki, just 24, has put together a 5.33 ERA over 16 starts this season, a far cry from the 2.10 ERA he posted across four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball before arriving in Los Angeles. Even after a shoulder impingement cost him nearly five months, he appears to be healthy again - and Roberts says the underlying progress is real.
“I think there’s improvement,” Roberts said. “I do think that from the outset of the season to as we sit here, he’s a grade and a half better than what he was when he started the season.”
Sasaki’s first 10 starts of 2026 produced 50 strikeouts, 19 walks and a 4.59 ERA. His four-seam fastball was sitting at 97.2 mph, and he was generating 12.2 whiffs per game. One outing in early June stood out above the rest: his first start of the month turned into his best MLB performance to date, with a career-high 10 strikeouts, only two walks and two hits allowed over seven scoreless innings.
The last stretch has been much bumpier. Over his most recent five starts, Sasaki has posted an 8.61 ERA, given up nine home runs, walked 12 and struck out 20. Even so, the velocity has ticked up, with his fastball averaging 98.3 mph and his swings-and-misses sitting at 11.2 per game.
There’s also reason the Dodgers still believe the ceiling is high. Sasaki finished the 2025 campaign in a different role, moving to relief late in his rehab assignment and then in two games at the end of the regular season.
That stretch hinted at the pitcher Los Angeles thought it was getting. In the postseason, he was electric, turning in a 0.84 ERA over 10.2 innings, earning the first two saves of his MLB career and handling the 8th, 9th and 10th innings in the decisive Game 4 of the NLDS.
Now the bigger question is what comes next. With All-Star Tyler Glasnow and two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell nearing returns to the starting rotation, Sasaki’s margin for error is getting thinner even as Roberts says he’s seeing progress.
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