The Dodgers’ pitcher injury woes are continuing to pile up, this time with heralded Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki potentially out of action.
Sasaki did not throw at his scheduled bullpen session Tuesday and is instead getting his right shoulder examined by the team doctor, a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly said.
When manager Dave Roberts was asked pregame about J.P Feyereisen having a locker in the clubhouse — a roster move that would require a player moving to the injured list or on the bereavement/paternity list — he mentioned that there was “smoke” around a player on the team. Asked if the “smoke” was Sasaki, who is scheduled to pitch against the Athletics on Thursday, Roberts responded:
“I’m not, I’m not going to say right now,” he said.
Roberts said that after Sasaki’s most recent start in which he pitched on five days of rest for the first time in his major-league career, the rookie 23-year-old reported arm soreness. He pitched just four innings and gave up five runs on 61 pitches. Sasaki threw 90-plus pitches in his previous two starts.
“Physically, he was a little bit sore afterwards,” Roberts said. “And that’s something that we’re still kind of trying to figure out — what’s normal, what’s kind of not normal.”
Sasaki, whose 100 mph fastball garnered attention in Japan, as well as his appearances pitching for Japan at the World Baseball Classic, has dipped in velocity since joining the Dodgers. He’s averaged 96 mph on his fastball, while occasionally dipping into the 92- to 93-mph range.
Roberts did not say pregame where in Sasaki’s arm he was sore, only that it was his arm. Sasaki is 1-1 with a 4.72 earned-run average across eight starts so far in 2025.
Staff writer Dylan Hernández contributed to this report.