

It’s been a few weeks now that there has been an uproar in MLB. The issue? Well, Los Angeles Dodgers and them being bad for baseball. Now where did the matter escalate? Things were anyway boiling as the Dodgers kept on piling their already superstar-laden roster with more key players. Also, with deferrals. But the major blow came when it wasn’t even money that helped them land one of the top pitchers every team at one point was aiming for—Roki Sasaki.
The Japanese phenom is being compared to being as good as Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And given he is just 23 years old and available in an unbelievable contract, teams just piled up for him. The San Diego Padres almost had him. But if sources are to be believed, their internal battles are something Sasaki didn’t want to deal with. So all this uproar of Dodgers being an evil empire of baseball came through. However, while Sasaki is undoubtedly good, not everyone thinks he is the best pitching icon from Japan!
In a recent appearance in Foul Territory, Dylan Hernandez gave his honest opinion on Sasaki. He acknowledged that the Japanese pitcher is no doubt great, but he has a crucial gap, and that’s experience. “Generally speaking, in Japan, because a pitcher pitches only once, they tend to let them go a little bit more. This kid has thrown fewer than 400 innings. The experience gap is pretty substantial, I think,” said Hernandez.
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According to him, Sasaki has yet to catch up with players like Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish. “In my mind, there are probably two other guys from Japan who fit that category, the first being Darvish, the second being Ohtani, and this being the third guy.”
Roki Sasaki has more raw materials than any other Japanese pitcher before him, says @DylanOHernandez. pic.twitter.com/hkFUF6Zxgt
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) February 3, 2025
However, standing at 6’4 with an impressive presence, Roki Sasaki is special. Hernandez mentioned that his raw talent even surpasses any other Japanese pitcher before him. He mentioned that maybe if Sasaki was born in the U.S. and attended an American high school, he would have been the top pick in the draft. And Sasaki’s lack of experience is not just what he pointed out; even Rockies former GM Dan O’Dowd did the same. On the MLB Network, the former GM highlighted that Roki Sasaki is still but a work in progress.
“What kind of blows me away is that even though he’s pitched 394 innings in Japan, I still see him as a development project. Well, look at it—his highest number of innings in a season has been 129. Physically, he looks like he hasn’t come close to reaching his full maturity,” said O’Dowd. He also pointed out that Sasaki’s fastball can be erratic and his secondary pitches need refinement. And his experience isn’t the only concern that the Los Angeles Dodgers have to deal with.
Yu Darvish has Roki Sasaki’s back
Adding to the concerns is Roki Sasaki’s health, which MLB insider Will Sammo- recently talked about. Now it is well-known that the Dodgers have been known to be the place for developing young talent. But it’s no secret that keeping pitchers healthy has been a major challenge for the team.
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Sammon, highlighting this, said, “The Dodgers routinely churn out quality young players. But they have trouble keeping pitchers healthy. That’s a concern. And it’s something Sasaki will have to answer. Considering how much money Sasaki left on the table by choosing to play in MLB as early as he did, it’s paramount that he stays healthy before getting a shot at free agency—which won’t come again for a handful of years.”
There is also news that Sasaki was in fact told to have a Tommy John surgery back in Japan. And he didn’t go forward with it, and that’s also one of the key reasons he hurried his way into MLB. One never knows how things go and after two surgeries, the power is just not the same. Well, Sasaki has a lot on his plate, it seems, but when the going gets tough, his godfather Yu Darvish will have his back. Despite Roki Sasaki not joining the San Diego Padres, Yu Darvish is holding on to no bad blood.
Darvish mentioned that tough times will come, and then he will be there as a mentee as he has been till now to Sasaki. “He may (have) some adversity that he needs to overcome, some hard times that he needs to overcome, and if he does reach out to me in those moments, obviously I will give him the support that I can give him. I think it’s important to do that not only as a player but also as a human being,” said Yu Darvish. Well, playing in the Dodgers won’t be easy, but the team surely will try and make the transition easy on Sasaki.
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