Dodgers' Sasaki unsure if velocity dip tied to shoulder issue - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — The shoulder injury that recently landed Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki on the injured list is a lesser version of something he experienced in Japan last season, he said. Whether it's the primary reason for a mysterious drop in velocity is still, in his mind, unclear.

«It's hard to tell if it's the main reason why my velo and command was affected,» Sasaki said through an interpreter on Wednesday.

Sasaki described his injury — listed by the team as an impingement — as «not necessarily pain, but it just wasn't the ideal way that I want my shoulder to move.» The discomfort began two starts ago, around the beginning of May. Sasaki proceeded to allow a combined eight runs on 11 hits and four walks in nine innings before the Dodgers placed him on the injured list, where he joined Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, both of whom are also dealing with shoulder woes.

Sasaki, the highly sought-after pitching phenom who blew up the international market last offseason, has posted a 4.72 ERA in his first eight starts in the big leagues, accumulating almost as many walks (22) as strikeouts (24) in 34⅓ innings.

The struggles have in many ways validated thoughts from people within the Dodgers and throughout the industry that Sasaki, 23, is far from a finished product, despite his outsized talent. But the performance of Sasaki's four-seam fastball, a crucial pitch to set up his wipeout splitter, has been alarming.

Sasaki's fastball routinely reached triple digits in Japan, but he hasn't hit that mark since his season-opening start from Tokyo around mid-March. Since then, Sasaki's fastball has averaged 95.7 mph. In three of his starts, including his two most recent, it has dropped into the 94 mph range. All told,