Roki Sasaki — 2026 Season

2026 Season Highlights

As of 10/1, Roki Sasaki is active on the Dodgers' roster and has worked as a regular starter this season, pitching far more than he did in 2025. His overall results look steady rather than dominant, with the clearest change from last year being the sheer volume of innings he has handled. The former NPB perfect-game pitcher shares a clubhouse with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

In 2026, Roki Sasaki is pitching what amounts to his true "Dodgers Year 1." His 2025 MLB debut was cut short by a right shoulder injury after just 10 starts — not enough to form a reliable sample on his real ceiling. This season, with a full Opening Day rotation slot, every start adds to the picture of what the "Monster of the Reiwa Era" can do at the highest level. The stats box above is updated daily — follow along as the story unfolds. Sasaki is a right-handed power pitcher who threw a perfect game in NPB at age 20 in April 2022 — the youngest ever in Japanese professional baseball. A first-round pick by the Lotte Marines in 2019 from Ofunato High School in Iwate Prefecture, he dominated NPB for five seasons with a career ERA of 1.85 and a K/9 of 11.96 — one of the highest rates in modern Japanese baseball. His arsenal is built around a four-seam fastball (55% usage) that touches 165km/h (102.5mph) and a diving forkball (35% usage) that generates elite swing-and-miss rates at high velocity. Key metrics to watch in 2026: his walk rate (BB/9 improvement), durability (reaching the innings threshold), and maintaining his elite K/9. A healthy full season projects to a sub-3.00 ERA and 180+ strikeouts — numbers that would cement his status as one of baseball's elite starters.

• 1This season he has pitched mostly as a starter in the majors and has thrown far more innings than last year. His results are a mix of steadiness and areas to improve, with some trouble from walks and home runs.
• 2He threw the youngest perfect game in NPB history and is known for a fastball that has touched 165 km/h and a high strikeout rate. That swing-and-miss ability has carried over to MLB, where his strikeout output matches his workload.
• 3The thing to watch is how he builds on the experience of a full starter's workload. Cutting down on walks and home runs looks like the key to taking the next step.