The Los Angeles have placed Kirby Yates on their list injured in a hamstring injury, and in corresponding moves, each manager, Dave Roberts, is being activated to pitch from the bullpen.
Yates had a 7.71 ERA on eight outings in September, attacking seven people, walking four in the process. He allowed six runs to win in seven innings. Yates recently moved to IL in early August with back pain and spent three weeks on the shelf.
Sasaki hasn’t pitched since early May and has dealt with shoulder complications, but his activation has now made him an option for the bullpen to move forward.
Manager Dave Roberts recently spoke about the idea of Sasaki moving to a relief bar.
“I think he embraced that,” Roberts said. “I think he did a really good job. I think he’s ‘When you’re in the pen, you’ll make a decision about when to use him.’
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The 23-year-old may not have had an easy path back to the starting rotation given the surprising field trip his rotation teammates have been exhibiting recently, but it may not only help him get back on the mound, but also help him reach the postseason roster.
Although Sasaki’s professional baseball career has been a starting pitcher for most of his professional baseball career, the last two outings of his rehabilitation assignment in Triple A are comforting. He has shown increased command and fastball speed (ups average speed to 98.6 mph), and appears to be much closer to the highly regarded pitchers who the MLB team has been fighting for a chance to sign this past offseason.
Before Sasaki first immerses his toes in the world of relief pitching, Roberts talked about how his younger pitcher’s mindset puts teams, and if throwing them out of the bullpen takes it, he would.
“Loki…from my understanding, I think he’s in a good place to do anything to help the team,” Roberts said. “(Pitching with peace of mind) It’s completely odd to him, so it has to be a little leaps on his side too, but I think he understands how good the starting pitcher is, and he just wants to be a part of it.
The leap of faith from Sasaki is off to a good start, but the actual test is if he can maintain this level of production in MLB.
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Photo credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Image
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