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Roki Sasaki wanted to play for the reigning World Baseball Classic champions Samurai Japan in this year’s global tournament.
He was part of the Japanese team that took down Team USA in the 2023 final to become the kings of international baseball.
But following a rocky first season that included missing a large chunk of time due to injury, the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to block his joining the Japanese team for the WBC tournament, keeping him in camp for spring training.
While Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto left to join the Samurai Japan team, Sasaki remained in Arizona, where he made his first spring training start on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks.
After a strong ending to the 2025 season that saw him become the de facto closer for the back-to-back World Series champions in the postseason, Sasaki is prepared to return as a starting pitcher this upcoming campaign.
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While the speed on his fastballs were good for a first spring training outing, topping out at around 97 MPH, his location was not. Sasaki struggled in his first preseason start, not finding the strike zone with his fastball, and the D-Backs sat on his breaking balls to pummel into the outfield.
The 24-year-old gave up three runs in the first inning before pulling himself together to get two straight strikeouts to get out of the inning.
It’s a big season for Sasaki, who currently has a spot in the starting rotation, but that could change with returning young arms like Gavin Stone and River Ryan competing to be the next young ace for the Dodgers.
While Sasaki dreamed of repeating with the Samurai, he might be happy to be staying with the Dodgers the next few weeks to establish himself as ready for the regular season following Wednesday’s rocky start.
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