by Cary Osborne
Yoshinobu Yamamoto let ’em rip — one pitch after another until the number was 42. Standing behind him for the latter portion of Yamamoto’s bullpen was Roki Sasaki, who had recently finished his own bullpen session of 20 pitches on Monday at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.
In one picture, it was the two top pitching imports from Japan from the last two seasons — each wearing Dodgers across the chest of their uniform.
“He’s very observant,” Roberts noted as one of his first impressions of Sasaki this Spring Training.
If that is indeed the case, what he witnessed was Yamamoto exuding confidence with every pitch he threw.
It was rapid. Catch the ball, gaze into the catcher with intent and fire away. There was a gracefulness about it with the nimble right-hander extending arms wide and releasing with rapid velocity.
“Yamamoto is considerably ahead of where he was last year,” said manager Dave Roberts. “And every time he throws a baseball, he’s getting better. The command, the delivery is just really good. The slider he was throwing today, it just looks like he’s hitting the ground running.”
Yamamoto has been impressive out of the gates early — again. Last year, his first bullpens and live batting practice sessions were one of the hottest topics in the early days of Spring Training camp. This, after the dominant Nippon Professional Baseball league starting pitcher signed a 12-year contract with the Dodgers.
The 26-year-old has stood out this time around with his ability to command the baseball and look of comfort on a mound. He is slated to start for the Dodgers in the Tokyo Series when they begin their regular season on March 18.
Sasaki is a candidate to pitch in that two-game series as well against the Chicago Cubs.
Roberts said Sasaki’s second bullpen session of the spring was better than the first.
“(It) was more clean and consistent, and there probably was some nerves in that first one,” Roberts said. “But I think each outing, each time he takes the mound, he’s going to get more and more comfortable. Certainly the next check point is when he faces some hitters, and then we get him into a Cactus League game. But the talent is still there, obviously.”
Sasaki signed with the Dodgers on Jan. 22 after four seasons in the NPB. He’s been one of the biggest fascinations in this Dodger camp — much like Yamamoto was last spring.
Hunter Feduccia, who made his Major League debut with the Dodgers in 2024 and appeared in five games, caught Sasaki on Monday. He liked what he saw from the pitcher and noted some of the challenges Sasaki faced coming over from the NPB — specifically adjusting to a slightly larger baseball.
“He was throwing his fastball, splitter and curveball. I thought all three of them looked good,” Feduccia said. “The fastball command was there. I’m sure he’s kind of getting used to the balls. He kind of has a unique grip with the splitter. So I’m sure he’s kind of getting used to that, trying to get certain feels and hone it all in from the first bullpen. It looked it looked good in my eyes.”
Dodgers camp stories: Yamamoto and Sasaki fascinate in Spring Training was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.