{"id":107653,"date":"2025-09-23T20:59:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T00:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=107653"},"modified":"2025-09-23T20:59:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T00:59:55","slug":"dodgers-activate-rookie-roki-sasaki-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/23\/dodgers-activate-rookie-roki-sasaki-wednesday\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Set to Activate Rookie Arm as They Look Ahead to the Postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers&#8217; rookie right-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sasakro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roki Sasaki<\/a> has a locker in the clubhouse, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, and he is expected to be activated tomorrow, per manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=roberda07,roberda05,roberda06,roberda03&amp;search=Dave+Roberts&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Roberts<\/a>. \u00a0The upcoming roster move is to be determined. For what it&#8217;s worth, reliever <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stewabr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock Stewart<\/a>&#8216;s return is imminent as well.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102555\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102555\" style=\"width: 539px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-102555\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"539\" height=\"359\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26493417_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 539px) 100vw, 539px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102555\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jun 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) walks on the field prior to the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Dodgers to Activate Roki Sasaki on Wednesday<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Roki Sasaki will be activated tomorrow, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=roberda07,roberda05,roberda06,roberda03&amp;search=Dave+Roberts&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Roberts<\/a> said. Still TBD on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stewabr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock Stewart<\/a>, who is in Arizona with the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabianArdaya\/status\/1970635651956777086?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Is the Shoulder OK?<\/h3>\n<p>Roki Sasaki has had a turbulent first year in the majors. Far from being unhittable, the rookie has had some growing pains. He has accumulated a 4.72 ERA over 34 1\/3 innings with 24 strikeouts. To make matters worse, his velocity took a nose dive. Not surprisingly, this landed the rookie on the injured list. Sasaki has been sidelined with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/13\/dodgers-rookie-roki-sasaki-injured-list-sore-shoulder\/\" target=\"_self\">cranky shoulder<\/a> since early May.<\/p>\n<h3>Exceeding Expectations<\/h3>\n<p>The Dodgers had been pessimistic about Sasaki&#8217;s return in 2025. Not long ago, Roberts said he wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if the right-hander didn&#8217;t return to a major league mound this year. This led many to think that the Dodgers were more interested in his further development, including working on adding a pitch to his arsenal. For example, in his extended rehab, Sasaki said he was throwing without pain, but his velocity remained a concern. With only weeks left in the regular season, Roki&#8217;s return looked like a long shot.<\/p>\n<h3>Necessity is the Mother of Invention<\/h3>\n<p>The Dodgers have struggled to find a dependable bullpen option <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/13\/looking-ahead-dodgers-injured-pitchers-potential-timelines-return\/\" target=\"_self\">from the right side.<\/a> Most of the arms have spent considerable time on the injured list. In addition, veterans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yateski01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kirby Yates<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/treinbl01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blake Treinen<\/a> have been ineffective at best, with ERAs over five. As a result, the Dodgers have experimented with Sasaki out of the bullpen at Triple-A Oklahoma City. In a limited time, Sasaki has yet to give up a run, has hit 100 miles an hour on the radar gun, and struck out multiple batters.<\/p>\n<p>It is probably too soon to say whether the transition is a success, but the Dodgers appear willing to try anything to get outs in the late innings.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers&#8217; rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki has a locker in the clubhouse, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, and he is expected to be activated tomorrow, per manager Dave Roberts. \u00a0The upcoming roster move is to be determined. For what it&#8217;s worth, reliever Brock Stewart&#8216;s return is imminent as well. Dodgers to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":100387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071,35],"tags":[991,28440,257,2845,28707],"class_list":["post-107653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","category-news","tag-blake-treinen","tag-brock-stewart","tag-dave-roberts","tag-kirby-yates","tag-roki-sasaki"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107653"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107660,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107653\/revisions\/107660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}