Wednesday night in Japan and Wednesday morning in the United States, the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers are wrapping up the two-game Tokyo Series (GameTracker). The Dodgers are going for the sweep after coming back to win the first game at the iconic Tokyo Dome on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s game occasioned the MLB debut of Roki Sasaki, the latest sensation to make the jump from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB. The flamethrowing 23-year-old opened Wednesday’s game with four straight 100 mph fastballs and his fastball averaged — averaged — 98.0 mph in the game. Eight of his 37 fastballs registered at 99 mph and above.
Sasaki got countryman Seiya Suzuki, the second batter he faced, to swing through a 99.3 mph fastball for his first MLB strikeout.
The sheer velocity was certainly impressive and Sasaki overpowered Cubs hitters at times, though he was very wild Wednesday. He threw only 19 of his 56 pitches within the Statcast strike zone, plus a handful of others just off the edges. Officially, Sasaki threw only 25 of his 56 pitches for strikes, or 45%. The MLB average strike rate was 64% in 2024.
Following a quick 1-2-3 first inning, Sasaki retired only five of the final 11 batters he faced. He walked five of those 11 and also hit a batter, and needed a line-drive double play to scape a second-inning jam. In the third, Sasaki walked three straight batters, including Kyle Tucker with the bases loaded, before striking out Michael Busch and Matt Shaw to limit the damage.
Sasaki pairs his high-octane fastball with an outlier splitter. It’s an outlier because the pitch averages a spin rate right around 500 rpm, which is exceptionally low. The average MLB splitter sat 1,303 rpm last season and only 10 pitchers averaged less than 1,000 rpm on their split. The spin is so low that Sasaki’s splitter has knuckleball action. It can break in either direction.
As unique as Sasaki’s splitter is, the Cubs swung at only two of the 15 splitters he threw Wednesday because he was so wild, and because so many splitters were far outside the zone for easy takes. Nerves surely played some role in Sasaki’s wildness. In the end, he showed dynamite raw stuff Wednesday, it’s true top-of-the-rotation ability, but Sasaki also must improve his command.
Like the other three starting pitchers in the Tokyo Series, Sasaki was pulled with a fairly low pitch count Wednesday because it is mid-March, and he’s not fully built up for the season. Sasaki threw 46 and 41 pitches in his two spring training starts, respectively, though he went to the bullpen following his second start to continue throwing and build his pitch count up.
Sasaki is the third-youngest Japanese-born player to debut in MLB after playing in NPB at 23 years and 136 days, according to MLB.com. Only Masanori Murakami (20 years and 118 days in 1963) and Tomo Ohka (23 years and 123 days in 1999) were younger. We ranked Sasaki as the seventh-best free agent available this past offseason. Here’s the write-up:
The short hook: Explosive young righty with durability questions
Sasaki is the most talented pitcher not already in an MLB organization. He’s been on the global radar since throwing a 19-strikeout perfect game as a 20-year-old in 2022. He combines elite velocity with a devastating swing-and-miss splitter/forkball. Sasaki has dealt with his share of injuries, limiting him to 33 combined starts across the last two seasons. His earning potential is completely suppressed because of his amateur free agent classification. Nevertheless, a fully actualized Sasaki has a chance to be an immediate impact starter in the majors.
Sasaki, 23, joined the Dodgers on a minor-league contract with a $6.5 million signing bonus in January. MLB’s international signing rules limited him to a minor-league deal rather than a massive contract on par with Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s because he is under 25. The San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays were the two other finalists to sign him.
The Dodgers’ offense gave Sasaki plenty of support Wednesday. They scored two runs in the second inning and later tacked on with home runs from Tommy Edman (solo) and Enrique Hernández (two-run). Edman’s home run was the first of the 2025 MLB season. Sasaki exited the game with LA leading 5-1.
