"Roki Sasaki had a roller coaster of a rookie campaign - he lost velo, lost command, and lost time on the active roster (due to injury) before roaring back to life as he swapped to relief late in the season, a role in which he eventually became the closer and played a critical part in the Dodgers' successful title defense. It was a temporary role, as it turns out, as the club shored up the armbarn with the high profile addition of one ."
"But for The Monster of Reiwa Era to successfully transition back to that role, Roberts said that the 24-year-old still needed to develop a third pitch. Roberts went on to say that, " It's going to need to be something that goes left. " A tricky proposition, considering: A) Sasaki does not spin the ball exceptionally well, and B) attempts at developing his slider contributed to a lower arm angle which messed up his mechanics and caused a drop in fastball velocity."
Roki Sasaki experienced a rookie season with lost velocity, lost command, and time missed for injury before converting to relief and becoming the Dodgers' closer during their title defense. The relief role proved temporary after the club added another high-profile arm. The team will pursue a starting return for Sasaki, but he still needs a third pitch that moves to the left. Sasaki worked on a cutter during a Triple-A rehab assignment, throwing it 21 times before shelving it and reverting to a two-pitch relief approach. The cutter averaged 90.5 MPH, 1,919 RPM, 0.46 inches glove-side movement, and 2.74 inches of rise.
Read at Dodgers Digest
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