Dave Roberts announces grim update on Roki Sasaki’s potential return date from IL

Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts recently provided an update on the status of young pitching phenom Roki Sasaki after the latter was shelved. On May 13, 2025, Sasaki was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement.

Before getting injured, the 23-year-old earned his first career MLB win on the May 3 game of the Dodgers against the Braves in his seventh start. He currently holds a 1-1 record with a 4.72 ERA and 24 strikeouts across 34 and 1/3 innings.

"I just don't know when the timeline is, but it's going to be some time if you're shutting down the throwing, building up, and then kind of ramping back up as a starter," Roberts said. "It's a patience play, but also a prudent play to kind of appreciate the short-term and long-term health of Roki," he added. (8:00-8:19)

Roberts gave some insight about the progress of his young fireballer in an interview with ESPN LA radio. The skipper also cleared out that the prognosis for Sasaki was just a shoulder impingement and nothing more.

"I think it is what it is. That was a diagnosis through the MRI and also the symptoms that he was reporting. So, basically a shutdown of throwing [was need] to calm [the injury] down and then building up the strength and then stabilizing the shoulder." (7:43-7:58)

Although he was touted as one of the future big names of Japanese baseball, the 23-year-old has yet to find his stride stateside.

Roki Sasaki's history of injuries

Known as "the Monster of the Reiwa Era" back in Japan, Roki Sasaki has been nothing short of impressive from a young age. He's broken the Japanese high school record when he once hurled a 101 mile an hour fastball that superceded Shohei Ohtani's previous record.

However, just as the case with fireballers with lanky frames, the young pitcher has had his fair share of injuries early on in his career. When he was selected in the 2019 NPB Draft, the Chiba Lotte Marines elected to make him skip the pandemic-riddled 2020 season to preserve his arm.

Fast forward to late July 2023 when the former NPB phenom incurred an oblique tear which was supposed to keep him out of action for two months. However, Sasaki made a miraculous return in early September of the same year which made eyebrows raise if he was rushed back to action.

During his final year in Chiba in 2024, the 23-year-old also incurred the same shoulder impingement injury that limited him to 111 innings pitched.