{"id":709045,"date":"2026-06-01T21:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709045\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T21:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:33:10","slug":"dodgers-details-a-rolling-ballclub-roki-sasakis-velocity-kyle-tuckers-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709045\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers details: A rolling ballclub, Roki Sasaki\u2019s velocity, Kyle Tucker\u2019s struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 There was no silent treatment after Ryan Ward rounded the bases for his first big-league home run. He\u2019d waited long enough, including 725 games in the minors<\/a>, before he cleared the fence for the first time. So Andy Pages was there to shower him with sunflower seeds after Ward took Andrew Painter deep to open up a three-run lead in a blowout win. The trip around the bases was a blur.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of a blackout, if I\u2019m going to be honest with you,\u201d Ward said. \u201cHit it, and I just went numb.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mess of alcohol, condiments, and whatever the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers could find awaited Ward when he returned to the clubhouse after a 9-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m probably going to smell for a little bit,\u201d Ward said. \u201cIt was all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things are feeling good for the Dodgers, even as injuries have shaken up the roster. Ward is here to play the outfield after Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez strained his hamstring this week.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 win Sunday was their 14th in their last 17 games, a stretch that includes five consecutive series victories. The Dodgers are playing their best baseball of the year and getting contributions throughout the roster. Sunday, that meant production from Ward and Alex Freeland, two of the newest guys in the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in this locker room is a superstar,\u201d said Freeland, who collected a double and a home run in just his second game back up from Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

Yoshinobu Yamamoto benefitted from some run support, carrying a six-run lead when he exited after 5 1\/3 scoreless innings. The right-hander clearly was frustrated with his command and still struck out 10. The Dodgers are cruising.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it just speaks to how we\u2019re playing,\u201d said manager Dave Roberts, who celebrated his 54th birthday with a victory.<\/p>\n

From the moment Roki Sasaki signed with the Dodgers, one homework assignment<\/a> looked potentially unsolvable, even to some in the organization.<\/p>\n

For every tweak the Dodgers have made to Sasaki\u2019s arsenal and delivery, the greatest unknown among club personnel was whether Sasaki would rediscover the premium velocity that made him one of the most famous pitchers on the planet.<\/p>\n

Sasaki\u2019s three-year odyssey to rediscover his fastball velocity might have its answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like it\u2019s all put together right now,\u201d Sasaki said Saturday through interpreter Kensuke Okubo.<\/p>\n

He grunted as he fired a fastball to the Phillies\u2019 Kyle Schwarber to start his night on Saturday, a pitch that Schwarber fouled off. It clocked in at 100.1 mph, the first pitch Sasaki had thrown all season that hit triple digits. That set up the splitter that followed, which Schwarber waved through. And Sasaki was off from there.<\/p>\n

Sasaki hit 100 mph again an inning later, a 100.4 mph heater to J.T. Realmuto that clipped the zone but was called a ball. He touched 99 mph or harder 14 times, more than he has in any game in the majors. The 5 1\/3 innings of one-run ball he threw against the Philadelphia Phillies could reconfigure what might be possible for him.<\/p>\n

His day was officially in the books when Alex Vesia worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth unscathed. Vesia could not hide his glee for Sasaki, smacking him on the shoulders and even getting the reserved Sasaki to smile.<\/p>\n

This was the type of night Sasaki had waited for since he asked prospective big-league clubs to put together plans to help him get his velocity back.<\/p>\n

How did it finally happen?<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, I have kept doing the same thing and then stacking small things,\u201d Sasaki said.<\/p>\n

It helps that Sasaki has filled out his frame working alongside strength coach Travis Smith. His delivery is in a good place. His smile perhaps indicates some confidence that has been hard to come by.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I was able to pitch the way I wanted,\u201d Sasaki said. \u201cThat\u2019s my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even he was surprised by how much his velocity increased, Sasaki acknowledged.<\/p>\n

The right-hander entered Saturday having eclipsed 100 mph as a starter just three times in the regular season over his two years in the majors. Two came in his major-league debut on March 19, 2025, an erratic performance at the Tokyo Dome that would portend the rollercoaster that followed. Another came in September, when Sasaki accepted his new role as a reliever and emerged as a surprise savior for the Dodger bullpen.<\/p>\n

He has not looked like he did Saturday night in a start since he was with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. His velocity was the best it\u2019s been in this role for the Dodgers, and now, he might be as equipped as ever to make the most of it. Sasaki\u2019s new slider is a legitimate pitch, getting a swing-and-miss half the time a Phillies hitter swung at it (seven out of 14). He\u2019s played both a splitter and a forkball off his fastball this season. Those steps counted as progress, even if he entered Saturday with a 4.93 ERA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think early this season, after every throw, he was looking at the radar gun to see what the velocity was,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cNow, there\u2019s just a confidence that the throw is good, the feel is good, and that\u2019s his validation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, that heater looks like it once did. That\u2019s promising.<\/p>\n

There was some mild surprise around the batting cage when Kyle Tucker walked up around 3 p.m. on Saturday. The Dodgers leave an option open for hitters to hit off a high-velocity machine in their early work, but Tucker hadn\u2019t deviated from his typical routine until now in his first season with the Dodgers after signing a four-year, $240 million deal this winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very telling, where he\u2019s at,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Facing the higher velocity is as challenging as training gets, Tucker explained Saturday afternoon. He was trying to find something. Tucker then joined his teammates for a round of on-field batting practice a couple of hours later, his first time doing so this year. After that round, he said he was working on trying to \u201cget it on the barrel,\u201d a fleeting thing for him as he\u2019s struggled to find his footing.<\/p>\n

Then Tucker went back down to the cage that night.<\/p>\n

He went hitless in four at-bats Saturday against the Phillies. At least one of those balls had a chance to fall in. Tucker kept his swing back long enough to hook a two-strike Jes\u00fas Luzardo changeup into right field before Adolis Garc\u00eda made a running, diving catch. When Tucker grounded out softly to first base in his next time up, he spiked his helmet when he reached the bag.<\/p>\n

Sunday, he went 2-for-4. His single in the third inning was a grounder that kicked off the first-base bag and into the outfield to bring home a run. It\u2019s hardly the contact Tucker\u2019s been trying to make.<\/p>\n

Better results came in his next at-bat. He stayed on a slider from Tanner Banks in the fifth inning, squaring it up for a 105.9 mph blast off the right-field wall for a double.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday looked more like who he is,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Tucker\u2019s OPS is .729, as baseball\u2019s highest-paid player ever by average annual value, is tied for 90th among qualified hitters. According to Statcast, he has barreled up just 5 percent of his batted balls this season entering Sunday, a rate nearly half of his career mark.<\/p>\n

Some of it is likely tied to the swing, while some of it has to do with Tucker\u2019s swing decisions. He entered Sunday swinging at 49.8 percent of pitches he\u2019s seen, his highest rate since 2022. He\u2019s chasing more as a result. Only one other hitter \u2014 Cincinnati\u2019s TJ Friedl \u2014 has seen a higher year-over-year increase in frequency swinging at the first pitch (47.5 percent, up from 36.3 percent).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of a red flag,\u201d Roberts said, later adding that \u201cit just seems like he\u2019s much more hyperaggressive than I recall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe Sunday\u2019s double off the wall was the sign of a turnaround for the Dodgers\u2019 newest star.<\/p>\n

River Ryan commands the Dodgers\u2019 attention, even as the organization continues to downplay his timeline to return to the majors. The club has stressed its desire to build Ryan up slowly. He\u2019s hardly pitched in the last two years due to Tommy John surgery, and he hardly pitched at all after converting from the infield to the mound full-time once the Dodgers acquired him in 2022.<\/p>\n

Ryan has made three starts since returning from his hamstring injury, throwing 15 brilliant innings and allowing just one run, striking out 19 with just one walk. He\u2019s showcased some of the best stuff in the minors, moving up to No. 19<\/a> on Keith Law\u2019s latest prospect rankings this week.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also 27 years old, turning 28 in August. So, what do the Dodgers need to see?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stuff coming out of hand is awesome,\u201d general manager Brandon Gomes said this week. \u201cI think we\u2019re gonna keep building him up and try to build a nice foundation before we look to do anything there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers don\u2019t have a pressing rotation need after acquiring Eric Lauer. There isn\u2019t an obvious candidate to pluck out in favor of Ryan, who had never completed six innings in an outing until he did so on Thursday. They also would rather have him peak in October than in May or June.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be mindful of his innings and workload, and not just be shortsighted, like, \u2018Oh, well, he\u2019s pitching great now,\u2019\u201d Gomes said. \u201cWe also would like him to build that foundation and be a potential option.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 There was no silent treatment after Ryan Ward rounded the bases for his first big-league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,1187,591,85],"class_list":["post-709045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}