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Roki Sasaki acknowledged after Friday’s 7-1 loss to the Padres that he felt mechanically off during the outing, per staff reporting at DodgerBlue. The admission puts a finer point on what was obvious from the results — Sasaki’s command issues have resurfaced in June after a more encouraging May, and the young right-hander is trying to diagnose why.

Sasaki’s June regression has been defined by the same problems that plagued him earlier in his Dodgers tenure: poor control and too many walks. Friday’s start was the worst of the bunch, a particularly wild game where he couldn’t locate with any consistency. For a pitcher whose electric stuff — the triple-digit fastball, the devastating splitter — depends on precise command to be effective, mechanical inconsistency is the root of everything. When Sasaki’s delivery is synced up, he’s nearly unhittable. When it drifts, the walks pile up and he falls behind in counts, which forces him into the zone in hitter-friendly situations.

The 24-year-old came to the Dodgers as one of the most hyped international signings in recent memory, a pitcher who had already proven himself as a dominant force in Japan’s NPB. His May performance gave the organization — and all of us — genuine reason to believe the adjustment to MLB was clicking into place. But June has been a reminder that development isn’t linear, especially for a pitcher still learning how to repeat his mechanics against major league lineups night after night. The fact that Sasaki can feel the difference mechanically is actually a small positive — it means he has awareness of what his delivery should feel like when it’s right, which is the first step toward correcting it.

This matters for the Dodgers rotation in a real way. The team has been searching for a reliable No. 2 starter behind their ace, and Sasaki was supposed to be the answer — or at least a big part of it. With the rotation already thin (and that’s being generous), they can’t afford Sasaki spiraling through extended mechanical funks. The front office built this roster expecting Sasaki to take a significant step forward in 2026, and they need him to work through this quickly.

I’ll be watching his between-starts work closely. The Dodgers pitching development staff has the resources and track record to help him iron this out, but it needs to happen soon. We’re approaching the halfway point of the season, and the rotation needs Sasaki throwing like the pitcher we saw in May — not the one who looked lost on the mound Friday night. The good news is he knows something was off. Now it’s about fixing it.

Source(s): Staff (DodgerBlue) | First reported: June 28, 2026 2:15 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers