Roki Sasaki Shut Down From Throwing Due To Right Shoulder Trouble

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently voiced confidence the group of injured starting pitchers would return at some point during the 2025 season, but that may no longer hold true for Roki Sasaki.

Sasaki has been on the 15-day injured list since May 13 because of a right shoulder impingement. He managed to start a throwing program two weeks later but recently was described as still being in a state of light catch.

Now, however, Sasaki has been shut down altogether.

“He’s just not feeling that he can kind of ramp it up. So I gather that we’re trying to hold the baseball a little bit until he feels that we can get going again,” Roberts said. “So I think it’s with the medical staff, with Roki’s comfort, all that, and not feeling like we’re going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.

“And I don’t know if it’s pain. I just don’t know. It’s more of a question for Roki, to be quite honest with you, as far as the sensation. It’s discomfort, I don’t think it’s pain. It’s tightness. It could be just not feeling strong. Whatever the adjective you want to use, I’d rather him say that.”

At the beginning of last week, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior revealed Sasaki’s rehab process had grown somewhat stagnant due to an inability to increase the intensity of his throwing.

“I think right now we’ve got to get him to a position where he feels confident in his ability to throw the baseball,” Prior said on June 10.

“Until we can get where he feels comfortable, his throw feels good and he feels completely healthy, we’re not really messing around with the throw. There’s not a lot to report. He’s just been throwing light catch and not a lot of work on catch right now.”

Prior added that Sasaki was “pain-free” in his right shoulder, which Roberts corroborated before the series opener against the San Francisco Giants.

“It could be just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. I would rather him kind of say that,” Roberts said on Sunday.

Roki Sasaki timeline

When previously discussing Sasaki’s potential return from his right shoulder injury, Roberts explained the Dodgers were operating without any sort of timeline in place in order to avoid putting pressure on the rookie.

That remains the case in the wake of Sasaki stopping his throwing program, and Roberts’ latest remarks make it more of a question mark that he pitches again in 2025.

Some additional clarity could come in the next few days of the Dodgers transfer Sasaki to the 60-day injured list as one of the corresponding moves to activate Emmet Sheehan for his season debut.