Friday, January 17, 2025
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025
The Los Angeles Dodgers bolstered their starting rotation when they signed the Japanese phenomenon Roki Sasaki. This youngster completes the Dodger six-man starting rotation, and it is the best rotation in the major leagues.
During the 2023 Baseball World Classic, Sasaki shone. The Dodgers signed the 23-year-old right-hander to a minor league contract. While most baseball-knowledge people think Sasaki will be in the major league rotation by June. In Japan, his ERA was around 2.00, and he had a perfect game with nineteen strikeouts. His fastball is 105 miles per hour, and he has a devastating splitter. He has pitched only 130 innings. He needs a third pitch to dominate in the major leagues. Sasaki has been working on both slider and curveball.
This offseason after winning their first full-season world championship, the Dodgers bolstered their starting rotation. Throughout the postseason, the Dodgers scrambled to find a quality starter. They had to have many bullpen games out of necessity.
Blake Snell came to the Dodgers right after the completion of the World Series. He signed a five-year $182 million contract. The 32-year-old left-hander has won two Cy Young awards, one in the National League and one in the American League. Snell has a strikeout machine.
When Tyler Glasnow is healthy, he perhaps has the best pure stuff in the major leagues. He couldn’t pitch after the middle of August, but he was the best Dodger starter before the All-Star break. According to the Dodgers and Glasnow, his elbow is ready to go for spring training. Time will tell.
Yoshinobo Yamamoto will be good in his sophomore year in the American major leagues if he can stay healthy. During the postseason, he was brilliant. While he missed three months of the 2023 season with a strained right rotator cuff, he was good when he started. He will have a better idea of how to attack major leaguers.
Both Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May are ready to return from Tommy John surgeries. These young pitchers would be good at the end of the rotation.
The Dodgers shouldn’t be scrambling for pitchers to start a game. They should dominate the National League Western Division.
