Dodgers on verge of getting last laugh with Roki Sasaki after dominant start vs. Phillies

Lost in all of the Roki Sasaki performance drama is one simply fact: The kid is just 24 years old. He's less than 100 innings into his MLB career, and is still adjusting to a new culture after moving across the world for his new job with the Los Angeles Dodgers at the ripe age of a recent college graduate.

Sasaki was the most-hyped pitching prospect in recent memory, and living up to those lofty expectations on a team with World Series aspirations was always a big ask. But the Dodgers are now being rewarded for their patience, as Sasaki is in the midst of his best pitching stretch since coming stateside.

Roki Sasaki is rewarding the Dodgers' patience

Sasaki's latest effort against the Philadelphia Phillies -- a three-hit masterclass across 5⅓ frames -- was emblematic of the gradual improvements he's made during his brief time with the Dodgers. He leaned into what was working, tossing his slider more often than his splitter. He also went to his fastball more frequently the deeper he went into the start, and kept the veterans in the Phillies' lineup off balance.

It may not have been quite as dominant as the seven-inning shutdown he displayed against the Los Angeles Angles, but the Phillies are a tougher opponent, particularly against right-handed pitchers. Sandwiched between those outings was an impressive five-inning performance against the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers.

Given his vast struggles at the MLB level (save for his bullpen heroics last October), it wasn't unreasonable to suggest that Sasaki needed some time away from the spotlight. Extra seasoning at the minor-league level has done a lot of players good over the years.

But the talent that made him such an exciting prospect never went anywhere. The Dodgers, who are so loaded elsewhere on the roster, could afford to let Sasaki take his lumps and were right to believe that he'd eventually turn things around with enough trial and error.

That's not to say the struggles are gone forever; he's still just 24 years old, after all. But if his May (3.18 ERA over 28⅓ innings) is any indication, Roki Sasaki is finding his footing against the best hitters in the world. That's the kind of development that can make a Dodgers' three-peat a reality.

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