Dodgers Pitching Coach Opens Up on Roki Sasaki's Injury

"Clearly, he was bothered by it last year at times in Japan, and it's kinda reared its head again a little bit," Prior said. "I think you kinda have two different paths going on here. You have a development path overlayed with him trying to perform at the Major League level, and those things aren't easy. We see it a lot of times with guys coming up from Triple-A and the minor leagues, and they're trying to continue their development at the big league level, and that's extremely hard, and sometimes it gets messy. But I do think the shoulder thing has something to do with it. Clearly the velocity continued to trend down. And finally he got to the point where he spoke up and we’re glad he did, because I think it’s something we needed to address, his overall shoulder conditioning and strength.”

The Dodgers placed Sasaki on the 15-day injured list after he felt some discomfort in his prior two outings. The injury is listed as right shoulder impingement.

The rookie's injury couldn't have come at a worse time, as the Dodgers were facing an injury crisis among their starters. Starting pitchers Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell also sat on the injured list at the time of Sasaki's injury, though Kershaw has returned to the Dodgers.

There is no timetable for Sasaki's return, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he will not throw for a while.

Sasaki has struggled in MLB, posting a 4.72 ERA though eight starts. He has 24 strikeouts through 34.1 innings pitched, and gave up five runs through four innings pitched in his final start before his move to the IL. The future is bright for Sasaki though, as the 23-year-old has shown us glimpses of his devastating splitter. He also allowed three runs or less in all four of his starts during April.

The Dodgers will hope for Sasaki's recovery sooner rather than later as they pace the NL West, leading the San Francisco Giants by two games.