Watch: Roki Sasaki electrifies in Spring Training debut for Dodgers

The baseball world has waited months to watch 22-year-old Japanese phenom, Roki Sasaki, take the mound. 

That long wait finally ended on Tuesday night, when Sasaki made his highly-anticipated Cactus League debut at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, AZ against the Cincinnati Reds. 

The hype wasn’t just real—it was deafening. Sixteen teams had lined up this offseason, hoping to land the right-hander known as the ‘Monster of the Reiwa Era.’ Only the Dodgers succeeded, and on this night, he showed the world why.

Sasaki entered in relief of his fellow countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who allowed two earned runs with four hits and three strikeouts in four innings of his own. 

Sasaki dazzled Dodgers fans who were in attendance in Arizona with a 99-mph four-seamer that popped into the catcher’s mitt like a firecracker. The next? A splitter that disappeared like a magician’s trick. Cincinnati Reds hitters never stood a chance.

By the time his night was done, Sasaki had fired three scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking one, and hitting a batter. He struck out five. The raw talent was undeniable. 

Per Baseball Savant, Sasaki averaged 98 mph on his fastball, touching 99.3 at its highest. But it was the splitter—already considered one of the best pitches on the planet—that stole the show. 

Seven of his eight whiffs came on that devastating pitch, which left Reds hitters lunging at air.

“He’s growing, I think he’s getting more comfortable,” said Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts of Sasaki. “Tonight was a big night. I think being under the lights and in a big league ballgame and seeing how he responded was good. The stuff was really good. He got a lot of swing and miss. The fastball played up. It was really good to see.”

For Sasaki, this outing wasn’t just about showing off the tools that made him the most coveted pitcher in the international market—it was about progress. 

The transition from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball is never seamless. The hitters are stronger, the game moves faster, and the margin for error is razor-thin. Even with electric stuff, Sasaki learned that lesson quickly. Two Reds batters nearly took him deep but pulled their swings just foul. That’s the adjustment he’ll have to make—his triple-digit heater won’t always overpower MLB hitters the way it did in Japan.

His velocity also remains a work in progress. In the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Sasaki was regularly over 100 mph, touching that mark on 26 of his 29 fastballs during that tournament. 

Last season, however, that number dipped, enough for Sasaki to demand answers from teams during free agency. The Dodgers presented him with a plan, and Tuesday’s performance showed encouraging signs.

“I felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness,” Sasaki said about his Cactus League debut postgame through a translator. “But once I was on the mound I felt like I was able to focus and be able to pitch.”

As of this publication, Sasaki is still expected to pitch in the second game of the two-game Tokyo Series on March 19 against the Chicago Cubs. After tonight’s performance, that timeline likely will stay on track, but could change moving forward. 

Tuesday night was only the beginning of Sasaki’s journey to the big leagues. If this is what the start of Sasaki’s journey in Dodger blue looks like, the rest of baseball should be on notice.