Dodgers' Roki Sasaki's New Pitch Turning Heads Around MLB

Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander pitcher Roki Sasaki spent the 2025 season utilizing two pitches.

His journey from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball was no easy feat as he initially struggled in his first year with the Dodgers.

Sasaki accrued a 4.72 ERA in his first eight starts for the Dodgers. He then landed on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement and utilized his time away from the team to transition into a bullpen role.

The next time fans witnessed the Japanese fireballer on the mound was when he pitched in relief for the Dodgers. The depleted LA bullpen was missing a closer and Sasaki emerged as the secret weapon.

With his fastball and splitter, the right-hander posted a 0.84 ERA with six strikeouts, three saves and a 1.03 WHIP across nine appearances in the postseason.

In 2026, Sasaki still remains somewhat of a mystery. The Dodgers star began the season in the starting rotation, but hasn't been consistent early this season.

Sasaki has allowed seven earned runs across nine innings. However, the 24-year-old's latest experiment has been labeled as must-watch this season.

Sasaki is developing a third pitch that's a bit of a mystery in terms of what it is. Nevertheless, it's caught the attention MLB.com's David Adler.

"If Roki is going to succeed as a starter, this pitch is going to play a big role," Adler wrote. "He can't really be a two-pitch pitcher with a fastball and splitter, especially when his command of those two pitches is as erratic as it has been.

"In his 2026 debut for the Dodgers, the pitch Sasaki relied on most to land in the strike zone was a new pitch: a hard slider that averaged about 88 mph with nice sharp drop (about 2-3 inches above average). Sasaki still needs to get his mechanics and command in order, but the 24-year-old's new pitch is one good sign for him moving forward."

Sasaki's newest weapon got six of his 14 swings-and-misses in his latest start, which was a 90-pitch performance.

While Sasaki's apparent slider (the pitch doesn't have an official name yet) is having success early in 2026, he is still going to utilize the fastball and splitter as the primary pitches in his arsenal.

“He’s still gonna be meat-and-potatoes with four-seam and split,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. “But [the third pitch] has honestly been a pretty decent pitch for him, even in spring training … He seems to have a good idea of where it’s going. He can throw it to get back into counts.”

Throughout his time overseas, Sasaki's splitter was deemed unhittable and it's why he earned the reputation as one of the greatest young pitchers in the game. The right-hander has shown flashes of brilliance at the MLB level, especially holding together a depleted Dodgers bullpen that was falling apart at the seams last October.

Sasaki's success will directly affect the Dodgers rotation as the young pitcher will have to flourish given the team has no plans on sending him to the minors.

Thus, the development of his third pitch is especially crucial moving forward.