Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki has been out since a start on May 9 and it sounds like his first season stateside might well already be concluded. The 23-year-old rookie has been shut down from his throwing program while trying to work his way back from a shoulder impingement.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday that Sasaki was “not comfortable” and “not feeling that he can ramp it up,” but that scans haven’t shown anything new. Roberts went on to say that “we have to plan on life without him as far as this year.”
“I don’t know if it’s pain… it’s more of a question for Roki, to be quite honest with you,” Roberts said (via the Los Angeles Times). “As far as kind of the sensation, I don’t — it’s discomfort. I don’t think it’s pain. It’s tightness.”
Sasaki, 23, signed with the Dodgers in the offseason on a minor-league deal — given his age and lack of service time in Japan’s NBP, he couldn’t sign an MLB free-agent deal — and has thus far started eight games. He’s 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and 24 strikeouts against 22 walks in 34 ⅓ innings.
The Dodgers have been dealing with a litany of pitching injuries all season. They currently have eight starters and six relievers on the injured list and that doesn’t include the still-rehabbing Shohei Ohtani, as he’s in the lineup as a hitter while working his way back from elbow surgery on the mound. It sounds like Ohtani will be back in MLB action as a pitcher soon. Emmet Sheehan is expected to make his next start in the majors as he wraps up his own Tommy John surgery and both Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are rehabbing, but the list never seems to end for the Dodgers.
Despite all that, the Dodgers remain in first place in the NL West, a game over the Giants and three over the Padres.