Roki Sasaki Searching For More Velocity
The Los Angeles Times' Jack Harris writes that Los Angeles Dodgers Japanese rookie right-hander Roki Sasak hasn't hit 99 mph on his fastball since his adrenaline-fueled debut in his MLB debut in Tokyo, Japan, to start the season and has dropped as low as 92-93 mph since then. Sasaki hit 100-plus mph on each of his first four big-league pitches and eclipsed 99 mph eight times in the first inning on March 19 against the Cubs. But in seven games since then, the 23-year-old phenom has averaged just 96 mph with his four-seamer. "It's not an ideal situation," pitching coach Mark Prior said. "Clearly, the fastball is not gonna carry through the zone at 93 very effectively." The problem is Sasaki needs premium velocity to make his fastball competitive because it doesn't have much spin or "vertical break." The Dodgers are working on mechanical fixes for Sasaki, who currently has an underwhelming 4.72 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 15.6% strikeout rate and concerning 14.3% walk rate in eight starts.

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