Dodgers All-Star Thinks Roki Sasaki is Tired

After Los Angeles Dodgers rookie phenom Roki Sasaki was out for close to five months with a shoulder impingement, nobody knew what to expect upon his return.

After tossing a 4.72 ERA across his first eight MLB starts, he was unrecognizable from the feared product from Japan that had 20 teams show interest this past offseason. When he recovered from a shoulder impingement and started his rehab assignment, his velocity and command were still all over the place.

In somewhat miraculous fashion, Sasaki increased his velocity by 4.2 mph in between starts, and an idea was presented to him upon his arrival: transition to the bullpen.

Sasaki not only went along with his team's plan, but thrived in the new role. He pitched a pair of scoreless frames in Triple-A, and upon his long awaited return to MLB, allowed just one hit and struck out four in two regular season appearances.

He would answer the call in the postseason and take things to another level in October, striking out five across 5.1 innings in the Wild Card and NLDS, earning the first two saves of his career (in consecutive NLDS games on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies), and allowing just one hit.

When the ball was handed to him in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sasaki showed that he was mortal after all, allowing an earned run, a well-hit double, and walking two before Blake Treinen would replace him and earn the save.

All-Star catcher Will Smith believes that the rookie was burnt out from not just being called upon to be a major piece of the Dodgers' postseason puzzle, but consistently doing it so well ahead of the NLCS. He three three perfect innings just four days prior in NLDS Game 4.

“He was kind of thrown into the fire,” Smith said. “Probably a little tired. I’m sure he’s not going to admit that, but it wears on you. The mental stress of the playoffs wears on you, the travel wears on you, and the physical aspect wears on you. Dealing with that, I still thought he looked pretty good.”

Manager Dave Roberts noted that even on three days' rest, Sasaki may have been feeling the effects of his brilliant three-inning performance to help secure the NLDS on Thursday.

"I thought his stuff was still good, but just missing," Roberts said. "I don't know if there was carry-over from the three innings. Just kind of betting on how he is saying how he feels and the coaches and training staff. With the three days off, I felt good with him."

Regardless of why, Sasaki will do his best to put Monday's performance behind him, and look towards the six remaining wins his team needs to become World Series champions once again.

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