Los Angeles right-hander Loki Sasaki made his major league debut where his baseball journey began: Japan.
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The travelled abroad to start the season and returned home 2-0 after cleaning the Chicago Cubs with the Tokyo Series.
Sasaki praised the pitching in front of Japanese fans to open Game 2 at Tokyo Dome. It was a sold-out matchup in his 23-year-old home country, so it was only natural Sasaki, who dealt with a few nerves.
“It was nervous,” Sasaki said. “I think it was a really great environment created by Japanese fans and the environment that is unique to Japan. I think it’s really good to be able to sell in front of US fans.”
Since it was announced that Sasaki would jump from Japanese professional baseball to MLB, it has been expected that Japanese flamethrowers will make his debut. Sasaki’s sweepstakes featured a unique free agency process in which the team fought through international geniuses, despite the fact that the team had not yet pitched one MLB pitch.
On Wednesday, Sasaki threw a total of 56 pitches in the ‘ three starts. The outing featured a fastball and a nasty splitter, but the right-hander couldn’t hide the fact that he was a rookie.
Sometimes Sasaki struggled with his orders, which meant that five walks and bass loaded up jams on the third. Still, Phenom showed extreme calm when he left behind bases loaded in Michael Bush and Matt Shaw’s streak of strikeouts.
There’s certainly a growing pain as Sasaki adjusts, but the flash of glow from the right-handed saw how deep the ‘ rotation will be from 2025 onwards.
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Photo credit: Darren Yamashita-Immagn Image
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