Everything came as announced.
The heat of 99 mi / h. The late and difficult diving separator. The overwhelming stuff, if they are always raw, that many expect from him will make him a future ace … if not more.
During his first official Baseball Competition of major leagues, in the Riders‘ 4-2 Victory Against the Cincinnati Reds in the game of the Cactus League at Camelback Ranch, 23 -year -old Sasaki Roki Displayed all the tools that made him such a coveted merchandise from Japan this offseason.
He launched three goalless rounds. He recorded five sticks to the stick. And he flashed an apparently endless potential, short and long -term.
“We all expected to see how he manages his emotions under the lights, the first big league match,” said manager Dave Roberts. “And I thought he was fantastic.”
When it was released from three rounds, Sasaki gave only two strokes and only granted the base. From his five stick withdrawals, three came on throws that have moved so much that they frozen Reds strikers for the third strikes. And during his 46 locations, the right -hander of 6 feet 4 inches seemed perfectly at home on a large league mound, lighting the radar gun and mowing opposing strikers before returning to the canoe for the last time with a confident smile on his face.
“It was a mixture of excitement and nervousness,” said Sasaki through an interpreter thereafter. “But once I was on the mound, I felt like I could concentrate and capable of presenting.”
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Since the signing of Sasaki in January – in what was largely considered to be one of the largest strokes of the off -season in baseball, since it was limited to a minor league contract with a modest signing bonus of $ 6.5 million – Dodgers have recognized that Sasaki is still a development talent.
He only made 69 departures during his professional career in Japan. He arrived in Los Angeles with all his comfort in his two primary throws, the heavy rapid ball and the separator of the 80s. Part of the reason for which he chose the Dodgers, in a free agency which included around 20 contenders in total, was because he thought they could best help him to refine his delivery and add a life to a radiator who plunged to 96-97 MPH in his last season in the Nippon Professional League Japanese Baseball.
“I think that on the spectrum of the finished product, it is not even close,” reiterated Roberts, noting the noble future visions of the team for its development. “It just talks about its advantage, its projection.”
But for the moment, there are a lot of club clubs must also be excited – so well, the team provides temporarily Sasaki to make its regular season debut in the second game of the season, during its opening trip of the season to Tokyo in two weeks.
“I always think that his soil, being a very good major league starter with talent, is obviously high,” said Roberts.
It seemed like this, at least Tuesday evening.
By entering the game at the start of the fifth round, after the starter of the opening day probably Yoshinobu Yamamoto abandoned two points in the first four rounds of his third start of spring, Sasaki pumped a quick bullet of 99.2 mi / h which led to a routine ground, which made the good of Roberts observation.
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From there, Sasaki began to present the best field of his arsenal, slamming Splitter after Splitter that the Reds strikers seemed powerless to strike.
After Austin Wynns struck a single to one and Stuart Farchild was plunged while he was trying to do so, Sasaki completed Tj Friedl with a late separator for his first withdrawal from spring. He did the same at Matt Mclain to remove the side.
Elly de la Cruz led the sixth with a double, going in the other direction on a quick bullet of 98 mi / h that Sasaki almost slipped by him. Traffic, however, was not a problem. Austin Hays struck research. Jake Fraley flew to a separator. And after a walk four steps from Christian Encarnacion -Strand – Sasaki command was sometimes his weakness – he quickly composed a withdrawal from the end of the Christmas round.
“Obviously, there were failures in there,” said Roberts. “But he made up very well.”
The seventh round was the most impressive in Sasaki because he punctuated his night with Fanning Wynns and Carlos Jorge with two other separators who never seemed to meet contacts.
Over the eight separators, redruncients have left, only one did not drive a puff.
“He throws it hard, it looks like a quick bullet,” said Roberts, “(then) some people break down directly, some go to the left, some go to the right. It is therefore difficult to make it face, because you do not know what it will do.”
There were lessons to teach Sasaki on Tuesday, in what was his first live action against the strikers of the opposing great league (his only simulated match this previous spring came against the prospects of Chicago White Sox).
He mentioned how much the separators are too far from the area were easily taken for bullets. He noted how the few fast bullets he had left in dangerous areas led to aggressive swings. He also used only three cursors, still working with the team to determine the best way to add another secondary weapon.
On the other hand, however, he had the impression of being able to execute the delivery changes on which he worked with the Dodgers launcher coaches so far this spring. He liked the fact that he had blocked strikers when he executed his position.
“I was able to really work on things I wanted, and I felt that I had a good base,” said Sasaki, before adding later: “As long as I am able to launch quality locations, I should be able to get these guys out.”
During one night, it represented the mission accomplished for the Dodgers.
So that all the ways left to grow, he looked a lot able to immediately succeed in the big league.
“You can talk about the talent, but you have to go there and do it,” said Roberts. “I think it was really good for all of us, and especially for him, to see what he can do when he is right against the major league.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
