The good, bad and ugly of Dodgers top prospect Roki Sasaki's MLB debut

Young talent is tricky to accurately assess. Nerves and inexperience can make the early stages of an MLB career a learning process filled with ebbs and flows.

Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki made an imperfect debut in the Tokyo Series. The 23-year-old struggled with control and did not illustrate the true extent of what his secondary pitches can do. But, he still delivered more than enough to show fans and analysts why L.A. was bullish on his chances to successfully transition to the majors from the NPB.

The Rikuzentakata native tossed three innings of one-run baseball and struck out three batters. But, he also surrendered five walks and gave up one hit.

The Dodgers handily won 6-3 thanks in large part to home runs from Tommy Edman, Kike Hernandez, and Shohei Ohtani, but it was clear that the young righty was nervous in front of a packed Tokyo Dome crowd. His first three pitches were all 100 MPH fastballs. Sasaki benefitted from early adrenaline but later faced the challenge of staying composed.

"I think it was a really good thing that I was able to pitch with a good nervousness," Sasaki said to reporters, with Yuji Akimoto interpreting. "I think it was a really excellent environment created by the Japanese fans, an environment that's unique to Japan. … It was a really good thing to be able to pitch in front of the fans here in Japan."

A closer look at Sasaki's pitch breakdown reveals that he struggled to consistently locate his fastball and get the opposition to chase his splitter. While this could have been a product of nerves, the marks show an overall lack of trust in his secondary weapons.

Dodgers' phenom Roki Sasaki shows volatile promise in MLB debut

Sasaki only landed 25 of his 56 pitches for strikes. He threw his fastball 37 times and only registered three called strikes and two whiffs. Opposing hitters made contact on 85% of fastballs that were in the strike zone.

The Japanese youngster threw his splitter 15 times and only gained one whiff. There may have come a moment where he realized that his splitter was not working favorably and ended up trying to rely too much on his fastball. This may also explain why he only tossed four sliders.

At one point in the bottom of the third, Sasaki walked three straight batters, which ended up helping the Cubs get on the scoreboard.

"We made him throw strikes, and he struggled a little bit with that," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said to the same group of reporters. "The stuff is really good. But I thought we did a good job of executing our game plan."

With all of this in mind, it is critical to note the positives from Sasaki's highly-anticipated debut. His fastball velocity is clearly competitive, even if he doesn't hit 100 MPH consistently. Further, his off-speed stuff is blatantly nasty. Poise and control will be the rookie's biggest developmental challenges, along with the clear goal of needing to disguise his breaking pitches better.

"I think when you get youth and talent, which is Roki, what that introduces is variance," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the Tokyo Series finale. "There's going to be some really high highs, and then some things that you just don't know that are gonna happen because of his inexperience."

The MLB season is young, and there is plenty of time for Roki Sasaki to evolve as the Dodgers attempt to defend their title. If he blossoms the way many expect, Los Angeles may simply be unbeatable.

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