Impact Sasaki's third rehab appearance can best be characterized as uneven; he didn't finish with an impressive stat line but did show some promising signs of improvement. Among the positive aspects of the start were the right-hander's four punchouts (he had combined for just two over 5.1 innings across his first two rehab outings) and his fastball velocity, which reached 98.8 mph, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Though Sasaki got only two whiffs on his heater, he did get an impressive seven swings-and-misses on the 31 splitters he threw. It remains to be seen what's next for Sasaki -- though he seems to be near-ready to be activated from the IL from a workload perspective, his stuff doesn't yet appear to be sharp enough to get big-league batters out consistently. There also currently isn't any room in the Dodgers' rotation for Sasaki, so he may remain in the minors for multiple more starts to try to iron out his repertoire further.
AUGUST 29, 2025 • ROTOWIRE
