Dodgers Catcher Gives Roki Sasaki More Tough Love After Rough Outing

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki's performance early in the 2026 has been a rollercoaster.

Sasaki struck out six batters in his latest start Sunday against the Texas Rangers, but he also walked five. Both were career-highs in MLB for the Japanese fireballer.

The outing featured a ton of traffic on the bases with the right-hander having to pitch around 10 baserunners. Sasaki's day ended after four innings of two-run ball.

While he limited the damage, the 24-year-old has remained wildly inconsistent in a Dodgers rotation full of Cy Young candidates and All-Stars.

Backup catcher Dalton Rushing was once again behind the plate with Sasaki on the mound and he wasn't afraid to hold the right-hander accountable (just as he did when he discussed Sasaki's signature pitch earlier this month).

“I thought he walked a couple guys that he could’ve beat, personally. But it was good to kind of see him bounce back after walking a couple of leadoff guys and getting some swing and miss,” Rushing said of Sasaki's performance against the Rangers. “I don’t think it was a bad outing at all. It’s kind of the same thing. We just have to lean on really attacking hitters a little more and getting ahead. I think that changes the counts for hitters and also gets a little more chase.”

The Dodgers have quite the predicament in Sasaki's second year of stateside baseball. As of now, he doesn't appear good enough to be in the starting rotation. He is sporting a 6.23 ERA with 15 strikeouts across 13 innings of work.

However, he's also too good to be pitching in the minors.

So where does that leave the team?

Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged the Dodgers are looking for Sasaki to pitch deeper into games as each starter is expected to get to five innings at least.

“With the stuff that he had today, the six strikeouts and the swing-and-miss and all that stuff, that sets up for going deeper in the game,” Roberts said. “So that’s something that I talked to him about, and challenging him to, when you take the baseball, we’re trying to go five innings or more. So I think that’s the next progression for him, to be consistently able to do that. But I do feel the growth part of it is to hang in there and make pitches when he needs to.”

The Dodgers entered the 2026 season with a big question mark surrounding Sasaki. in his first season with the Dodgers, the right-hander accrued a 4.72 ERA across his first eight starts of the 2025 campaign.

He then landed on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement and transitioned into a bullpen role for the Dodgers down the stretch. The move paid off as Sasaki emerged as the Dodgers closer in the playoffs, posting a 0.84 ERA with six strikeouts and three saves in nine playoff appearances.

The Dodgers will have to decide what's best for Sasaki as the season progresses. There's no doubt the talent is there, but the consistency is missing.

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