![\"Roki](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2244404903.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPHOENIX \u2013 The most interesting thing happening at the self-described most boring spring training in baseball took place on a back field. The Los Angeles Dodgers claimed they did not schedule Roki Sasaki\u2019s outing Tuesday to be against minor leaguers to shield him, instead saying that Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow\u2019s pitching schedules had a conflict.<\/p>\n
The assignment still provided a convenient place for Sasaki to work on things. Facing a lineup of Chicago White Sox minor leaguers who spent most of their time at Double A a year ago provided a respite of sorts in a confounding spring. Not pitching in a Cactus League game meant fewer wandering eyeballs. A disastrous first inning, like he had in his last appearance, doesn\u2019t feel like a litmus test for whether he will actually tap into the seemingly limitless potential in his right arm.<\/p>\n
Still, Sasaki\u2019s relevance was reflected in who was there. While pitching coach Mark Prior handled the staff for the Dodgers\u2019 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness went with Sasaki to a back field on the White Sox side of the complex to observe.<\/p>\n
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman sat behind home plate, watching as Sasaki\u2019s pitch metrics flashed on a laptop in front of him. Alongside him was director of pitching Rob Hill, one of the men who helped Sasaki rediscover his delivery during his resurgence last fall. Vice president of player development Will Rhymes was in attendance. Rick Honeycutt, a special assistant and the team\u2019s former pitching coach, took in the outing, as did fellow special assistants Tyson Ross and Ra\u00fal Iba\u00f1ez.<\/p>\n
Even Chris Getz, the White Sox general manager, was there cruising around on a golf cart.<\/p>\n
That crew made up a sizable portion of the scattered audience to watch Sasaki try to sort himself out. The right-hander has cited inconsistent mechanics for his struggles in the couple of seasons since he appeared to be one of the best pitchers on the planet. After he briefly shined in a relief role last postseason, Sasaki still has tangible strides to make to prove he can be a quality big-league starter.<\/p>\n
Regardless of how he looks this spring, he\u2019ll get the opportunity to showcase himself in big-league games to start the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t see a world where he doesn\u2019t break with us as a starter,\u201d manager Dave Roberts reiterated Tuesday morning. Injuries have knocked out Blake Snell and Gavin Stone for Opening Day, and the Dodgers have plenty of wiggle room (and incentive) to let him work through his struggles as they come.<\/p>\n
The most anticipated back-field game of the spring left those minor-league hitters looking overmatched. A positive, if expected, step.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said it was electric,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cCouldn\u2019t have asked for a better day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sasaki surrendered a chopped single through the right side on his fourth pitch of the afternoon before kicking into gear. He struck out the next seven batters, making the teens look as if they\u2019d never seen a pitch like Sasaki\u2019s signature forkball. Only one more batter reached base over Sasaki\u2019s four innings \u2014 Sasaki hit him with a forkball that got away from him. Only two more batters so much as put a ball in play.<\/p>\n
His 59 pitches included 40 strikes and 17 swings-and-misses. His fastball command, shaky through two starts, looked improved. After missing the zone with his first two fastballs, he appeared to dial back in. The last two of his nine total strikeouts came on fastballs, with Sasaki working more aggressively in the zone as the outing went along. Refining that will be as important as anything to making sure Sasaki can stick as a starter. Keeping the velocity in the upper 90s matters too \u2014 Roberts said reports showed Sasaki\u2019s fastball between 98 and 100 mph.<\/p>\n
No matter the competition, Sasaki flashed some encouraging signs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fastball, if it\u2019s commanded, still plays,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThere\u2019s still value to getting hitters out and seeing guys swing and miss.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n After Roki Sasaki appeared in relief and posted an 0.84 ERA in nine postseason games last season, he is expected to be back in the starting rotation as 2026 begins. (Emilee Chinn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Sasaki said he employed the same cue he tapped into to finish his last outing on a high note. Along with correcting his upper half, he worked through different mental cues to use his core and torso better in his delivery and generate a consistent release point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s what I really need for right now,\u201d Sasaki said through an interpreter. \u201cSo I think I can keep moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s all about mechanics. If my mechanics are really good, I think my command is good, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding something repeatable has been difficult. The Dodgers have talked up Sasaki\u2019s added comfort in his second season stateside, hopeful that will make communication and trust easier between the sides. They\u2019ve been communicating \u201creally well,\u201d Sasaki said, after a regular season that was nowhere near what he\u2019d anticipated (a 4.46 ERA in 10 outings).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re thrust into a new environment, you\u2019re going to use your survival skills to survive, and that\u2019s going to using what you know,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI think last year he was trying to lean a lot on what he knew, what he was comfortable with, whereas this year there\u2019s more trust in knowing one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
That has fueled the Dodgers\u2019 optimism in Sasaki this spring, even when the results have been shaky. The Dodgers can let Sasaki figure this out on the fly because they can take on short-term risk if it means maximizing Sasaki\u2019s long-term potential. They are banking on him because they think, after enough hands with him, they can hit big.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess I\u2019m betting on the performance to continue to trend up, to be good enough and to only get better with the talent that he has and the work that he\u2019s put in,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2013 The most interesting thing happening at the self-described most boring spring training in baseball took place…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2323,363,99],"class_list":["post-516052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}