With Blake Snell’s return from the IL, Roki Sasaki is the last star member of the Dodgers’ rotation left on the IL (apologies to Tony Gonsolin). In the starts he was able to make, Sasaki was far from living up to the mammoth expectations placed on him in his first MLB season, and then he hit the IL on May 13 with a shoulder impingement after just eight starts.
His return has been rocky. He’s started and stopped a throwing progression a few times already, and Dave Roberts has provided conflicting and oftentimes unhelpful updates on whether or not Sasaki will be back this year at all.
However, Sasaki himself spoke to media on Tuesday for the first time since he went down with the injury. He’s pain-free and scheduled to throw three simulated innings this upcoming weekend before the Dodgers send him on a rehab assignment. We can deduce a loose timeline from there, which would likely put Sasaki back on the active roster by early September.
However, Roberts declined to answer with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when asked if the Dodgers would consider moving Sasaki into the bullpen for the postseason. “I’m going to hold on that one,” he said. “I do know we’re going to take the 13 best pitchers. […] If Roki is a part of that in some capacity, then that would be great. And if he’s not, then he won’t be.”
Roki Sasaki, speaking to reporters for the first time since mid May, said it is his “every intention” to get back to a big league mound this season. He’s pain-free, believes he’s in a better spot to hit top velocities, but still working on refining his mechanics.
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Roki Sasaki is pain-free, but there’s no guarantee he’ll be part of Dodgers’ postseason roster
Best-case scenario, the Dodgers get Sasaki back in early September to give him as many starting opportunities as possible in what remains of the regular season. Still, he’ll be competing with Emmet Sheehan, who’s looked pretty good as of late, and it’s possible that neither gets a spot in the Dodgers’ four-man postseason rotation if Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Clayton Kershaw are all healthy.
The Dodgers won’t be able to ask a lot of Sasaki when he comes off the IL, but the best that he can do is try to showcase a respectable return after a pretty bum run to start the year.
Being part of the postseason bullpen wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Now that the starters are getting healthier, Dodgers relievers are going the opposite way, and they might need Sasaki in that capacity by the time October rolls around. Every little bit will help during the postseason.
