The Los Angeles Dodgers will attempt to defend their World Series title in 2025 after defeating the New York Yankees to win the title last season.
While the Dodgers’ roster was already one of the best in the league, they added even more talent this offseason.
The Dodgers acquired three notable pitchers: starter Blake Snell from the San Francisco Giants, reliever Tanner Scott from the San Diego Padres, and starter Rocky Sasaki, who is coming to the MLB from Japan.
MLB Insider Dylan Hernandez recently compared Sasaki to other top Japanese pitchers.
“Just in terms of raw material, I think he has more than any Japanese pitcher before him,” Hernandez said, via Foul Territory .
Will Rocky Sasaki be the greatest Japanese pitcher ever?@dylanohernandez: discusses joining a flame-throwing right hand @Dodgers: in 2025. pic.twitter.com/LsqgNiOnwq
— FoulTerritory (@FoulTerritoryTV) January 21, 2025
Other Japanese pitchers Hernandez is discussing are Yu Darvish of the Padres and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers.
Sasaki will join Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a Dodgers rotation loaded with talent.
In 2024, Sasaki appeared in 18 games and went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 111.0 innings.
Hernandez said he thinks Sasaki could be one of the best pitchers to ever come out of Japan, but his durability will be a big question mark.
It will be interesting to see how the Dodgers use Sasak, as he has never thrown more than 130 innings in a season.
NEXT: Analyst Makes Big Announcement About Dodgers’ Pitching Staff
