by Cary Osborne
The Dodgers achieved much more than adding one of the elite international talents — and by some projections a potential-ace level pitcher — by signing Japanese star Roki Sasaki.
The signing of Sasaki potentially sets up a long-term Dodger starting rotation that could lead the Dodgers into the next decade. Sasaki, who agreed to a contract on Wednesday, will be under team control through the 2030 season.
Now to the others:
Tyler Glasnow — under contract through the 2027 season (2028 is an option year)
Blake Snell — under contract through the 2029 season (2030 is an option year)
Shohei Ohtani — under contract through the 2033 season
Yoshinobu Yamamoto — under contract through the 2035 season
Dustin May is slated for free agency after the 2025 season. Tony Gonsolin is a free agent after the 2026 season.
Gavin Stone is expected to miss the 2025 season but is fully expected to return in 2026. He is part of a group of young Dodger pitchers that includes Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, Ben Casparius and Justin Wrobleski who could all pitch the rest of the decade for the Dodgers before reaching free-agent status.
Starting pitcher Jackson Ferris, the Dodgers’ 2024 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year, right now is ranked as the №5 left-handed pitching prospect in baseball by MLB.com
For now, the Dodgers’ depth gives them one of their favorite and most meaningful words — flexibility.
Dodger leadership has frequently been asked about the plausibility of a six-man rotation.
The addition of Sasaki gives the Dodgers the flexibility to do that if they choose.
The Dodgers could also slow play a member of members of the starting rotation or not push it with a starting pitcher who doesn’t come out of the gate at the same speed as his rotation mates in Spring Training.
They had that luxury in 2024 with Walker Buehler returning from a second Tommy John surgery. Buehler didn’t have his first Major League start in 2024 until May 6.
Before that, the Dodgers went with Glasnow, Yamamoto, Stone, Miller and James Paxton.
This 2025 rotation appears deeper.
They have that luxury to give Ohtani, who hasn’t pitched in a Major League game since Aug. 23, 2023, that extra time.
The Dodgers will go into Spring Training with this group expected to compete to be part of the Dodgers’ season-opening starting rotation:
· Yamamoto
· Glasnow
· Sasaki
· Gonsolin
· May
· Miller
· Knack
· Wrobleski
· Casparius
Michael Grove also has starting experience.
Ohtani is expected to join the group later in the season. Clayton Kershaw is a free agent and recovering from offseason foot and knee surgeries. He said on Nov. 1 at the Dodgers’ World Series championship parade that he intends to pitch in 2025.
All of this depth gives Sasaki an optimum runway to succeed as a Major League rookie in 2025.
The Dodgers are adding an elite starting pitching talent in Sasaki. He has a three-pitch arsenal with a fastball that has reached up to 102 mph and grades at 70 (according to MLB.com) — a plus-plus rating on the 70–80 scouting scale. His splitter also rates at 70 and produced a 57.1 percent whiff rate in 2024, according to MLB.com. His third offering — a slider — grades at 55.
The 6-foot-2-inch, 187-pound right-hander went 10–5 with a 2.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 111 innings with 129 strikeouts pitching in 2024 in his age-22 season for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
He has shown excellent command throughout his four seasons in the NPB, with a career 2.0 walks-per-nine-innings rate, 5.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings in 414 2/3 IP. He has a career 2.02 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.
Sasaki owns one of the legendary single-game performances in NPB history. He threw the first perfect game in 28 years in the NPB on April 10, 2022, when he was 20 years old. His 19 strikeouts tied the league record and he set a new standard with 13 consecutive strikeouts.
He appeared in two games in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He threw 3 2/3 innings, struck out eight and allowed one unearned run against the Czech Republic. In the 2023 WBC semifinal against Mexico, he allowed five hits and three earned runs (all crossing the plate on a Luis Urías home run) with three strikeouts and no walks. He earned 12 swings and misses against a lineup mostly made up of Major Leaguers.
It’s part of what made him one of the most coveted talents ever from Japan.
“I’ve only gotten the chance to see him in person once at the end of the (2024) year. He’s incredibly talented, really physical, incredible carrying fastball, the split’s a well-above-average Major League pitch. He’s worked hard on a slider, and it’s a really good pitch,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations on Dec. 10 — the day he was posted for Major League clubs by the Marines. “He has talked about his desire to be the best pitcher in the world, and we believe that he is capable of being the best pitcher in the world.”
Dodgers’ addition of Roki Sasaki sets team up for long-term starting pitching stability was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.