Season At A Glance
 

The Roki Sasaki Conversation Begins: Part 3

Control Issues, Role Questions

Before tonight’s game in Los Angeles, Dave Roberts was asked what he wanted to see from Roki Sasaki. His answer was simple: “Tonight we need to see him in compete mode… once the game starts, it’s about getting hitters out.”

 

He competed. Just not in the way Roberts likely intended.

​

Sasaki struggled with control from the start—six walks, two hit batters, and five runs allowed in just over two innings. To his credit, he struck out two and didn’t allow a hit. It’s the kind of line that makes you reread the box score, just to be sure.

​

As much as the Dodgers want Sasaki to develop into a full-season starter, that idea is starting to look more optimistic than practical.

​

Spring training is essentially over. There won’t be the option to pull him mid-inning, reset, and try again later. That disappears quickly once the games count.

​

I’ve said this before in these Season At A Glance pieces, and it still holds:

​

Roki Sasaki is not a bust.

He is also not an MLB starter.

At least not right now.

​

What we did learn last year is that he can be a high-leverage reliever. Electric. Unpredictable—in the right ways. The kind of arm that changes the pace of a game the moment he enters it.

​

If the Dodgers continue to push him into a starter’s role, they risk stretching him past what currently works.

​

In his postgame comments, Roberts said, “To put me in a place where there is another alternative right now… that’s not helpful.”

​

It may not be helpful. But it may be necessary.

​

Sasaki fits in the bullpen. Not as a fallback, but as a weapon. A late-inning option on a team built to shorten games.

​

Báilalo, Rocky.
Suéltale, Rocky.