Dodgers’ Potential Free Agent Target Leaves Game With Injury

With one out in the second inning of Thursday’s game between the Lotte Marines and Nippon-Ham Fighters, potential free agent target Roki Sasaki took a smash off his left ankle and was forced to leave the game.

As the Dodgers and the rest of the baseball world waits to see whether Sasaki tests the international free agent market this off-season, any game-ending injury raises eyebrows across the Pacific.

Sasaki left for treatment and returned to the mound to make some practice tosses. Fortunately, the injury did not appear that serious, but he was still removed from the game.

After the game, Manager Masato Yoshii revealed that the ball hit the Achilles tendon of Sasaki’s pivot foot, and explained, “There is a possibility that he could be seriously injured when he runs, so the trainer decided to take him off the mound.”

Yoshii also told reporters after the game that he isn’t sure when Sasaki will pitch again.

“I won’t know until I see how he goes,” the manager added after the game.

The 22-year-old pitcher, who could move to Major League Baseball next season, became a sensation during his second season in the Nippon Professional Baseball league with the Pacific League’s Chiba Lotte Marines. Then, he pitched the 16th perfect game in Japanese history while striking out 19. Just a week later, he was pulled after eight innings of perfection because of his limited pitch count.

Sasaki would be following in the footsteps of current Los Angeles Dodgers players Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto who began their careers in Japan’s NPB before moving to North America to play in Major League Baseball.

“He is one of the pitchers that Japan is proud of,” Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said through a translator at the World Baseball Classic in 2023. “This year and then next year is going to be a very critical year for him.”

“Next year” is now, and Sasaki is continuing to turn heads despite a couple of injuries. He is 6-3 with an earned run average of 2.20. He has struck out 82 batters and only walked 20 in 69.2 innings of work.

Because he is younger than 25, his first MLB contract would be relatively small compared to Yamamoto’s. He has also not played six years professionally, which means he is subject to MLB’s international amateur signing bonus limitations. That would limit him initially to a minor league contract and the associated bonus.

Whether Thursday’s injury lingers, or ultimately plays a part in his decision to leave NPB this winter, remains to be seen.

Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

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