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The Los Angeles Dodgers are placing Kirby Yates on the injured list with a hamstring injury, and in a corresponding move, Roki Sasaki is being activated to pitch out of the bullpen, per manager Dave Roberts.
Yates has a 7.71 ERA in his eight outings in September, striking out seven and walking four in the process. He has allowed six earned runs in seven innings of work. Yates was most recently moved on the IL in early August with lower back pain and spent three weeks on the shelf.
Sasaki hasn’t pitched since early May and has been dealing with shoulder complications, but with his activation, he can now be an option for the bullpen moving forward.
Manager Dave Roberts recently spoke on the idea of Sasaki transitioning to a reliever.
“I think he’s embraced it,” Roberts said. “I think he’s done a very nice job. I think once he’s in the ‘pen, we’ll make decisions on when we use him.”
More news: Dodgers Could Use Emmet Sheehan as High-Leverage Reliever in Postseason
The 23-year-old may not have had an easy path back to the starting rotation given the remarkable outings his rotational teammates have been displaying lately, but not only will pitching in relief get him back on the mound, but may even help him get on the postseason roster.
Most of Sasaki’s professional baseball life has been as a starting pitcher, but the last two outings of his rehab assignment in Triple-A have been in relief. He has shown increased command and fastball velocity (upping his average speed to 98.6 mph) and looks to be much closer to the highly regarded pitcher that MLB teams were battling for a chance to sign this past offseason.
Before Sasaki first dipped his toe into the world of relief pitching, Roberts spoke on how his young pitcher’s mindset is to put the team first, and if throwing out of the bullpen is what it would take, he would do so.
“I think that Roki is … from my understanding, in a good place to do whatever it is to help the team,” Roberts said. “[Pitching in relief] would be something that would be completely odd to him, so it would have to be a little bit of a leap of faith on his part, as well. But I think that he understands how good the starting pitchers are pitching. He just wants to be a part of it. He’s worked really hard to get himself into a position to contribute.”
The leap of faith from Sasaki is off to a good start, but the real test will be if he can maintain this level of production back in MLB.
More news: Dodgers’ Dave Roberts Uncertain on Blake Treinen’s Role as Postseason Nears
Photo Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
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