Roki Sasaki made his Spring Training debut on Tuesday, and he left many people impressed. He looked so good that he had fans using the same word to describe him: nasty.
Sasaki pitched three innings in relief of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. He allowed two hits, walked one and hit a batter while striking out five over three innings. He got up to 99 mph in velocity, and his stuff was causing batters to swing and miss. He also showed off his splitter, which had fans raving about how nasty he was.
98 MPH filth
— MLB (@MLB) March 5, 2025
Roki Sasaki is NASTY 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RI4R0pBjtO
Roki Sasaki looked dominant in his Cactus League debut for the Dodgers:
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) March 5, 2025
3 IP
2 H
0 ER
1 BB
5 K
He had eight swings and misses, touched 99.3 mph and his splitter was nasty.pic.twitter.com/Q1C5W0CT08
LOL this is SO NASTY from Sasaki. pic.twitter.com/FKJIPBTWpb
— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) March 5, 2025
ROKI SASAKI’S FIRST STRIKEOUT OF SPRING FOR THE DODGERS!
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) March 5, 2025
As nasty as advertised 🔥
pic.twitter.com/Rj1qy9S8ZG
Sasaki was nasty man, he’s only 23 & not even close to being a finished product 🔥
— eddie ⚾️ (@gt_eddie21) March 5, 2025
Very nice inning from Sasaki. Velo looked great and the breaking stuff was very nasty
— Declan (@Declan_2217) March 5, 2025
Sasaki really is that nasty.
The 23-year-old pitched four seasons in Japan and went 30-15 with a 2.02 ERA during his pro career. He struck out 524 batters in 414.2 career innings. Sasaki pitched a perfect game in 2022 and holds the Japanese record with 19 strikeouts in a game. He also holds a world record for striking out 13 consecutive batters.
Sasaki was dominant in Japan. It won’t take long before we find out how well his stuff fares against MLB hitters. Something tells us he’s poised to enjoy plenty of success.
