How the Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki rediscovered his ‘Monster of the Reiwa Era’ sizzle

Before he held the keys to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ fortune and before Major League Baseball met the monster, Roki Sasaki was lost.

No pitcher inspired as much conversation last winter as Sasaki, who brought more promise to the international market than any player since now-teammate Shohei Ohtani. Then Sasaki all but disappeared from the Dodgers’ plans by midseason, looking like a shell of himself with a sore shoulder and the hardest-hitting fastball in sports. Now, as the Dodgers prepare to face the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, no pitcher can be as important as the beast that Sasaki has become — a relief ace for a shaky bullpen that has made the most of his second chance at a first impression.

The “monster of the Reiwa era,” as the 23-year-old is known in his native Japan, has arrived. Look no further than the three perfect innings he delivered in the deciding Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. His fastball was buzzing in the triple digits, located precisely where Sasaki wanted to put it. His separator, a unicorn throw that tumbles towards the plate, danced. He challenged the best hitters in the sport, who had no answers for him.

Between innings, Sasaki stood in the corner of the dugout, never removing his glove and staring straight ahead, like a predator waiting for more prey to devour.

“One of the all-time greatest appearances out of the pen that I can remember,” said manager Dave Roberts.

“I mean,” added reliever Alex Vesia, “he’s going into the history books.”

“Since he came back out of the bullpen, he’s honestly been one of the best pitchers I’ve ever seen,” Tyler Glasnow said. “His stuff is unbelievable. He’s locked in around the strike zone. For him to start the season like he did and then come back now is one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.”

This is all still so new. Six weeks ago, Sasaki was floundering on a rehab assignment in Oklahoma City with a fastball that sat in the mid-90s and had been clubbed, as well as a messy delivery resulting from years of injuries. His confidence seemed to diminish with each explosive outing.

All of this is still so important. Sasaki has now pitched 5 1/3 innings in the postseason, with even fewer than 10 relief innings in his professional baseball life. In the 15 innings of relief Sasaki didn’t pitch in the postseason, the Dodgers bullpen allowed 13 earned runs.

Sasaki is no longer a fantasy. It is no longer irrelevant. Thanks to a late-season reinvention, he’s everything.

“It’s real,” Kiké Hernández said. “Here he is. He’s putting himself on the map.”

It was a revelation. This is also what Sasaki has always been.

As the Dodgers’ vice president of player personnel, Galen Carr logs as many miles as anyone in the organization on trips to Japan. He spotted the best talent in the country, from Ohtani to Yoshinobu Yamamoto to Sasaki. To say that he discovered Sasaki is a mistake; the pitcher was one of the most famous products the country has ever produced, coming out of high school with one of the hardest fastballs anyone has ever seen and a splitter/forkball hybrid that was a singular force. He pitched with ferocity and carved out a history and nickname that was legendary.

“He was one of the best pitchers in Japan when he was healthy,” Carr said this month. “I mean, he almost threw two perfect games in a row. Who does that?”

Sasaki was starting to see a decline in his fastball velocity even before he was officially assigned to MLB clubs this winter. His shoulder gave him problems during his final season with the Chiba Lotte Marines. An oblique injury on top of that limited him to 18 starts that year. His speed lag caused enough concern that when Sasaki began his recruiting process last winter, he asked interested clubs how they could help him get back to the triple-digit average he previously had.

The mystery continued during his first season with the Dodgers. Sasaki hit 100 mph twice in his first inning in the big leagues, throwing into a packed Tokyo Dome in what was supposed to be the crowning achievement of the Dodgers’ dominance in the Japanese market. Sasaki no longer reached 100 mph as a starter.

Eight departures revealed the cracks that had formed over the years. Sasaki’s velocity was always low, with his fastball averaging 96 mph. That, combined with a flat trajectory, made the pitch one of the hardest-hit in the sport – his 11.1% swing-and-miss rate on the fastball was 10th worst in baseball for any pitcher who threw at least 300. Additionally, Sasaki couldn’t control his fastball or splitter, leaving a slider uninspiring as a carrying pitch in his arsenal. The results were ugly, with a 4.72 ERA in 34 1/3 innings before Sasaki complained that his shoulder was giving him problems again.

Sasaki essentially faded from the spotlight during a frustrating Dodgers summer. He didn’t speak to the media for months while he was on the injured list, strengthening his shoulder and adding bulk in hopes of better preparing his body for the rigors of Major League Baseball. Yet he seemed a strange man. The Dodgers’ exceptional rotation was becoming healthy. Roberts repeatedly stressed that Sasaki’s performance, as much as his health, was a factor in his consideration for the club’s stretch run.

When he began a rehabilitation mission, the problems persisted. Sasaki’s speed was still low. He was bombarded even against Triple-A hitters. Roberts had to brush aside lingering questions about Sasaki’s health, and the right-hander drifted further to the periphery of the Dodgers’ plans.

“I’m surprised,” Roberts said on September 5. “Because the talent level is certainly there. The performance, the equipment, hasn’t been there. I think there has to be an improvement. And also against Triple-A hitters, you would expect more.”

In Japan, Roki Sasaki almost threw two perfect games in a row. It took him a while to adjust to the majors, but he got the hang of it. (Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)

The Dodgers sent Sasaki to Arizona, where they had him share hours of video with Rob Hill, the organization’s pitching director. Hill’s fascination with Sasaki began long before the pitcher put on a Dodgers uniform. Hill was intrigued by Sasaki’s unique arsenal and striking performance, which featured a high kick and crane-like appendages flying everywhere. During this video session, Hill noted some bad habits that crept in as Sasaki dealt with injuries over the past few seasons. Sasaki’s arm slot shifted, Hill said, because of the way he threw his slider. Sasaki’s shoulder injuries forced him to expend more energy to generate the same speed, putting more strain on his arm while using less power on his legs.

Sasaki applied the corrections. It took time, the Dodgers admit, for Sasaki to open up to outside input. The right-hander brought his team of confidants and advisors every step of the way as he acclimated to the majors. Being receptive to new ideas required confidence.

“There were times where he said, ‘No, I really feel guilty about that,'” pitching coach Mark Prior said in August when asked how Sasaki took the comments into account. “Obviously, it’s their decision. … I think ultimately we’ll know once we start facing real hitters in real situations and then we really find out where that opening is, where that line is, good and bad.”

“Any new player you acquire, it takes a little time to build trust,” added Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “We didn’t try to push things too early. We knew he was a guy who was used to doing things a certain way and we were going to embrace that.”

Sasaki held a bullpen session with the changes in mind, including bending her back leg as she began her delivery. This locked everything else in its original place and forced Sasaki to be more athletic and less robotic in his delivery. The speed jumped. His control has improved. This was the Sasaki he knew, the version baseball executives had fallen in love with.

“I just felt like my fastball velo was back to where it was, and the fastball command was also where I wanted it to be,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So I think that really helps with the off-speed. And with that, I really feel confident being able to attack in the zone.”

Circumstances helped bring Sasaki back to prominence. As he collected his belongings, the Dodgers bullpen was falling apart. Overused for much of the season, once-reliable relievers began to fall one after the other. Dodgers executives therefore discussed the idea of ​​using Sasaki in relief. He accepted.

This was a godsend and unlocked a character that Sasaki has seemingly adopted.

“The presence on the mound, the conviction to make every pitch, to be in the strike zone with his fastball, he knows how good he is right now,” Carr said. “Her split is as good as I’ve ever seen it right now.”

The monster was unleashed.

(Top photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)