Los Angeles Dodgers director of pitching Rob Hill revealed how he fixed rookie Roki Sasaki’s delivery, aiding him in becoming the flamethrowing right-hander the Dodgers envisioned when they signed him during the offseason.

Sasaki suffered a right shoulder impingement in May, and had a difficult time during his rehab stint, which lasted more than a month. He wasn’t producing results in Triple-A, and his fastball velocity had fallen into the mid-90s from the 100 mph heater he exhibited earlier in the season.

Hill held a meeting with Sasaki when the 23-year-old finally caved in to receiving help on his delivery with the staff, and put any worries Sasaki may have had to rest. He stated the only thing he cared about was Sasaki’s improvement.

“You can tell me you want to spin upside down on your head midway through your delivery,” Hill said. “If it comes out 100, I’m going to just sit back and watch. I’m not going to shove you into a box. I’m not going to tell you that you have to move a certain way, you have to use your glute, you have to use your foot. I’m just going to ask you different things that make sense in your head, and then we’re going to find a way to make it come to life.”

After Hill and Ian Walsh, the Dodgers’ pitching performance coordinator, held the meeting with Sasaki, they made the discovery. They found Sasaki was rotating too early, disrupting his delivery and reducing the amount of force he could put into the ball on release.

“Rotating the pelvis early is just death to everything,” Hill said.

Hill and Walsh quickly found a fix after Sasaki showed them videos of his pitching from 2022 and 2023, seeing a difference in the position of his back leg during his delivery. They provided a solution to Sasaki, who excitedly went to try his new delivery as soon as he could.

The right-hander threw a bullpen and saw immediate improvement, with his fastball sitting 95-97 mph.

“What I try to do in that deposition is basically figure out if this is a software issue or hardware issue,” Hill said. “Like, is this a skill issue? Or are you hurt? Do you have a bony block in your hip that we don’t have diagnosed properly that is like actually limiting the ability to do things right? Once it’s somewhat determined that it’s not a hardware issue, it can happen quick if you just align the joints in the right way, especially with a guy who’s already produced a crazy amount of velo in his life.”

Sasaki’s first outing following the meeting came Sept. 9 with Triple-A Oklahoma City, and he instantly looked better than he had in his four previous rehab outings. He threw four scoreless innings to open the game, though allowed three runs in the fourth and came out after recording two outs. Despite the earned runs, this outing was a success. Sasaki had reached triple digits on his fastball again.

Sasaki took on a new role following the outing, and agreed to help the Dodgers where they needed it most: The bullpen.

The right-hander made two more appearances for the Comets before returning to the big leagues, but as a reliever. He threw two innings, striking out three batters without allowing a run.

The Dodgers reinstated him from the injured list Sept. 24, and he came into his first MLB game in over four months that same day. Sasaki threw a shutout inning against the Diamondbacks in his return game, then did the same two games later, which was enough for manager Dave Roberts to give him a spot on the Dodgers’ Wild Card Series roster against the Cincinnati Reds.

He showed more of the same against the Reds, coming in for the ninth inning in Game 2 and throwing a perfect inning to secure the Dodgers’ spot against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. Sasaki grabbed all the headlines against the Phillies, recording his first two MLB saves away from home, then coming in for three perfect innings in Game 4, which the Dodgers would go on to win to advance to the NLCS for the second straight season.

Sasaki has become the Dodgers’ go-to reliever in high-leverage after just six appearances out of the bullpen, and will play a huge role for the Dodgers for the remainder of the postseason. The Dodgers are set to face either the Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, which begins Monday, Oct. 13.