Dodgers' Dave Roberts 'Impressed' With Roki Sasaki's Incredible Growth

Los Angeles Dodgers young starter Roki Sasaki has been very impressive over his last few outings this season.

After putting together the best start of his career against the Los Angeles Angels, Sasaki responded with another solid outing against the Milwaukee Brewers

Sasaki went five innings against Milwaukee, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out four batters.

While this wasn't as dominant an outing as the one against the Angels, Sasaki showed some extreme confidence on the mound. After giving up three runs in the first, he was able to battle back and fire four scoreless innings.

Manager Dave Roberts praised the Dodgers right-hander following the outing, saying that he has shown some major growth this year.

“It’s a sign of a young player starting to really grow up and understand his responsibility to the team,” Roberts said. “You need to take down innings and outs as a starting pitcher. And it’s not always gonna be easy. That’s a learning moment that he could have folded. And I think that last year, it might have been tougher for him to get through that first inning. But he got through it and went four more scoreless.

"So [it is] continued growth for Roki. And I’m really impressed, because it seems like every outing, he is learning and getting better as a major-league pitcher.”

After a poor start to the season, Sasaki has looked much better on the mound of late. The righty has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts, proving the Dodgers right for believing in him.

For the year, Sasaki has posted an ERA of 4.93 over nine starts. Sasaki had struggled in spring training and then in his first few outings this year, leading many people to doubt his ability on the mound.

Some around baseball believed that sending him down to the minor leagues was the move to make, but the Dodgers held firm in their belief that he would turn it around.

“Young pitchers, to understand that even if you get hit in the mouth early, you gotta find a way to keep going, so you don’t blow up your bullpen," Roberts said. "He earned himself a win, and we won a ball game. So I give him a lot of credit."

Sasaki has excellent stuff on the mound, and the Dodgers have firmly believed that he could become a quality starter in the league. But the young right-hander has needed to prove himself to the club on a consistent basis, and he's done that of late, even with the bumps along the way.

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