Rouki Sasaki’s usage should concern interested teams

Japanese high school phenom Rouki Sasaki is drawing major league scouts. However, his usage should give those teams pause.

It is easy to see why Rouki Sasaki would captivate teams in both Nippon Professional Baseball and the major leagues. Despite being a high school senior, his fastball has been clocked in the upper 90s, touching 101 MPH, leaving one to imagine what type of pitcher he could develop into. He would still be a project, as he would need to hone his secondary pitches, but Sasaki’s live arm is tantalizing on its own.

However, there is a reason for teams to be leery of Sasaki moving forward. His usage has been incredible, as Sasaki has racked up insane pitch counts in his last two outings, coming two days apart.

Japan, especially in youth leagues, does not have the same pitch count limitations as there are stateside. Teams at all levels are looking to win, and win now. If that means riding a pitcher into the ground, then so be it.

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That usage has led to issues for major league teams interested in those pitchers. Virtually every starting pitcher to come to the majors has had some sort of issue with their arms, with Tommy Joh surgery usually the end result. Yes, those pitchers can still dominate, but those deals come with the caveat that time will be missed during their contracts.

It is certainly impressive that Sasaki was able to keep his velocity on such short rest, and after his obscene pitch count during that 12 inning marathon. And yes, this performance will add to his legend, just as had been the case with Daisuke Matsuzaka, and his 250 pitch performance in his own high school tournament.

These ridiculous pitch counts are the norm in Japan. Back in 2013, then 16 year old Tomohiro Anraku threw 772 pitches in a tournament, pitching four times in a five day span, including the final three days of the tournament. Kosei Yoshida threw 881 pitches over six games in the 2018 tournament. Yet, all those pitches fail to approach the insane 948 pitches fired by Yuki Saito in his own tournament appearance.

That type of workload could be in the future for Sasaki. While there had been discussions about imposing pitch counts in these high school tournaments, nothing has happened yet. And, due to these workloads at the high school level, and even in the NPB, those talented arms can also be a time bomb.

Such may be the case with Sasaki as well. Yes, he has continued to dominate, even with those high pitch counts. However, every time he steps on the mound, those pitches will add up. His arm will feel each pitch more and more as the fatigue sets in. In those pitches, damage could start to add up.

Rouki Sasaki has a great deal of potential, making it understandable why major league teams would be fascinated with the idea of bringing him stateside once his high school career comes to an end. However, his ridiculous workload over the past couple of days should concern those interested teams.