Proving the doubters wrong will be the goal for Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki during his second year in the big leagues.
His first campaign with the team didn’t go as planned, but it was fortunately capped off with the Dodgers using him as a bullpen pitcher on their way to a World Series championship. In nine postseason appearances, Sasaki finished with a 0.84 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and six strikeouts in 10.2 innings.
The idea of manager Dave Roberts is to get him comfortable as a starter. He made his first start of the 2026 season in Spring Training against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, it wasn’t very successful.
Sasaki struggles in Spring Training debut
The initial idea was for Roki Sasaki to pitch two innings on Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but it didn’t get that far before getting pulled.
In 1.1 innings, the 24-year-old allowed three hits, three earned runs, and walked two in 36 pitches before getting replaced by Payton Martin in the second.
The outing was rough from the start. Sasaki allowed a single from Geraldo Perdomo and walked Tim Tawa before recording an out. This was followed up by a Nolan Arenado double and an Ildemaro Vargas double to put the score at 3-0 in the first.
Sasaki came back out for the second and struck out Druw Jones and then walked Aramis Garcia before getting pulled.
He will likely get another start or two in Spring Training before the regular season begins on March 26.
