As free-agent acquisitions go, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki generated similar hype upon joining the Dodgers this offseason.
Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, was considered one of the best starters in free agency, kicking off the Dodgers’ nearly half-billion-dollar spending spree with his $182-million signing in November.
Sasaki, a 23-year-old phenom from Japan, arrived with what many pitching evaluators deemed as some of the best raw stuff in the sport, cementing the Dodgers’ triumphant winter by picking them from roughly 20 teams.
Entering spring camp, the two pitchers were the most notable new names on the Dodgers’ star-studded roster. And over the next half-decade, they’ll be expected to spearhead the rotation as it tries to cement a dynasty.
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For now, however, the realities they face are far different. And on Tuesday, in their first game action of the spring, the contrast between them at this early stage of the year started to become clear.
Snell pitched a scoreless inning in his spring debut in an 11-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners, offering a first glimpse at the wicked repertoire that has made him one of the best left-handers in the league over the last decade.
A few hours before that, Sasaki pitched three innings in a simulated game on a backfield at Camelback Ranch, continuing his transition to the majors with a more up-and-down showing against a handful of Chicago White Sox prospects.
“Today overall,” manager Dave Roberts said, “was a really good day for all of us.”
Both Sasaki and Snell are expected to open the season near the top of the rotation, with Sasaki lined up to potentially pitch the second game of the season-opening trip to Tokyo and Snell in contention for the home opener at Dodger Stadium a week later.
But to this point, their goals in camp remain different, with Snell simply trying to maintain his careerlong excellence, while Sasaki attempts to establish himself in a new environment.
Over nine seasons, Snell has amassed 211 starts, almost 1,100 innings and so much knowledge of opposing hitters that even Roberts has been amazed by his mental approach to the game.
“He is very sure of himself, which is what comes with experience and his stuff and pitch mix,” said Roberts, who has described Snell as a “next-level thinker” from their early conversations in camp.
“He talks a lot about watching hitters and how they react to pitches. I don’t hear a lot from pitchers these days, about hitters’ emotions or demeanors or how they react … For me as a manager, that’s really exciting.”
Sasaki, on the other hand, still is in the infancy of his career, arriving in MLB as “not a finished product by any stretch,” as his agent, Joel Wolfe, said at his introductory press conference, after making just 64 starts over four seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.
In Tuesday’s backfield session, Sasaki gave up a towering home run to his first hitter, highly-touted catching prospect Kyle Teel. He retired the next six, including one strikeout swinging, but ended the session by sandwiching two walks around a line-drive double.
While Roberts said the team was “pretty pleased with the outing,” which was Sasaki’s first against hitters from another organization, the mixed results served as a reminder of how much growth remains for the rookie.
He still has to make strides with his fastball velocity, which Roberts said averaged in the mid-90s Tuesday (still a few ticks off the 98 to 99 he is hoping to rediscover). Sasaki also is trying to develop more trust in a third pitch, continuing to tinker with both a slider and curveball to complement his signature fastball-splitter arsenal.
“This is kind of where we expected him to be,” Roberts said. “His words, he’s not a finished product. We feel the same way. But just seeing how his pitch mix plays against major league hitters, that’s going to keep adding confidence for him. So right now he’s got a good routine with our strength guys, our pitching guys. He’s getting really acclimated to Major League Baseball. He’s in a good spot.”
Snell, by comparison, simply is happy to be experiencing a relatively normal spring training again, after struggling through the first half of last season following his late-March signing (and rushed preseason) with the San Francisco Giants.
This year Snell reported to Camelback Ranch several weeks early to begin his throwing program. He credited that as part of the reason his fastball velocity already was up to his typical 95-96 range Tuesday.
“The fastball is ahead of where I want it, honestly, velo-wise, how it’s coming out,” Snell said. “So I’m pretty happy with it.”
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Socially, there has been one commonality between Snell and Sasaki, with both making an effort to connect with new teammates and, as Snell put it, “learn the culture … [that] makes the Dodgers so great.”
“I’m a pretty quiet guy, so me talking a lot is not something I like to do,” joked Snell, who has been present for most other pitchers’ bullpen and live batting practice sessions, often talking with them after their outings. “But I know that I have to do it to understand my teammates and to be a good teammate. That’s just what it takes to be that.”
Snell has been through all this before. The Dodgers are his fourth team. And in every past transition, he has managed to succeed, winning Cy Young Awards with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 and the San Diego Padres in 2023 before punctuating a stellar second half with the Giants last year with his first no-hitter.
Sasaki, meanwhile, is starting virtually from scratch — aiming to reach the kind of stature Snell has earned while working to fully unlock his own otherworldly potential.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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