Roki Sasaki’s move from starter to closer paying off big for Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — From highly-touted arrival to Roki sensation, the Dodgers are just now receiving top results from their newest Japanese star.

Roki Sasaki has settled nicely into the closer’s role for a team that has endured bullpen angst this season. Sasaki, who began the year as a starter, entered Friday’s Game 4 series-clinching victory for the Dodgers with a 1.29 ERA and three saves in as many opportunities in six relief appearances this postseason. He recorded the final three outs in a non-save situation to send the Dodgers back to the World Series.

The Dodgers began grooming Sasaki for the role after his late-September return, following 4 ½ months on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement.

As a starter, the 23-year-old Sasaki pitched to a 4.72 ERA in eight appearances.

Sasaki’s first start at Dodger Stadium, in March, was memorable, but for the wrong reason. The right-hander, after throwing 61 pitches over 1 ²/₃ innings, was removed from the game and later seen crying in the dugout.

“His growth has certainly not been linear,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “At that point in time, where he was scuffling and emotional on the bench, and there’s a lot of video and photos of that, and for him to kind of self-reflect, get healthy and put himself back on the radar for our 2025 ballclub speaks to his fight.

“And I don’t think anyone could have foreseen him in this [relief] role in April or May. So, I give a lot of credit to Roki to kind of get to that point.

And now he can look back at 2025 and look fondly at it.”

Sasaki’s free agency tour last winter included a meeting with Mets and Yankees officials, but the Dodgers were viewed as the favorites from the start based on their location, championship pedigree and the fact they had signed a Japanese star Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — in each of the previous two offseasons.

Because of his age, teams could only offer international bonus pool money for Sasaki, who received $6.5 million on a minor league contract. Had Sasaki waited until he was 25 to leave Japan for MLB, he would have been eligible for normal free agency.

As a point of reference, Yamamoto received a record contract for a pitcher (12 years, $325 million) the previous winter.

Sasaki indicated the transition from starter to reliever hasn’t been difficult.

“As a starter, I always understand that there’s always ups and downs,” Sasaki said through an interpreter. “So, I kind of take that same approach with pitching as a reliever. And I think what I try to do is just to make sure that everything, all of my mechanics are in place, so I can command the ball better. That is what I am really focused on right now.”

And he’s quickly assimilated with a relief corp. that was in need of another high-leverage arm after struggling closer Tanner Scott was excluded from postseason roster consideration because of a lower body abscess.

“Being out there, [Sasaki] he understands it’s a different vibe, a different energy coming out of that bullpen,” Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda said.

Sasaki’s lone rocky relief appearance occurred in Game 1 of the NLCS, in which he was removed with two outs after walking two batters in the ninth inning. It followed a three-inning relief appearance in the deciding Game 4 of the NLDS in which Sasaki held the Phillies scoreless before the Dodgers won in the 11th inning.

“In terms of my [Game 1] outing I don’t think my three-inning outing had any effect,” Sasaki said. “My mechanics were unconsciously off. I wasn’t really aware of what was going on, which I think affected my command and [velocity].”