The in Los Angeles are once again preparing for October. The team has recently performed like a defending champion, but there are still important members of the team waiting on the wings.
One of the injured is right-handed Kinosaki Sasaki. The 23-year-old genius has been on the sidelines with shoulder collisions since May, but is approaching the end of his rehabilitation assignment. His first few starts of time with Triple-A is less than ideal, but he has flushed speed increase and improved commands since his time with MLB.
The rotation looks a little different since Sasaki was pitching for LA, and with recent success on the mound, there is no guaranteed place for younger pitchers. Manager Dave Roberts spoke about Sasaki’s potential return before the end of the season, but did not mention where he would play.
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“I don’t know when. I don’t know what capacity,” he said. “But I hope to meet roki here before the end of the season.”
There is the concept of Sasaki coming back in the bullpen role, but because consistency is right-handed, Roberts also mentioned that an element of trust might need to be needed from both sides for that to happen, as right-handed people need more.
“I think Loki is in a good place to do anything to help the team,” Roberts said. “(Pitching out of the bullpen) is completely odd to him, so it has to be a little leap of faith on his part.
“But I think he understands the starting pitcher is pitching, he just wants to be a part of it.
At the start of Sasaki’s final rehab, he attacked 4.2 innings more than eight times, walked four times and allowed three runs. He threw 98.6 mph on his average fastball (4.2 mph increase since his last start) and hit six times over 100 mph.
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Photo credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Image
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