Watch Roki Sasaki's absurd splitter win over the doubters in ridiculous Dodgers debut

In his Cactus League debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, Roki Sasaki reminded everyone why he was the most highly sought after international free agent this winter.

The 23-year-old right-hander pitched in relief of Japanese countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, delivering three scoreless innings in which he allowed a pair of hits and a walk, plunked a batter, threw one wild pitch, and struck out five of the 13 batters he faced. When his night was done, he had thrown 46 pitches, including 13 of his signature splitter.

And that splitter ... wow.

Watch Roki Sasaki's absurd splitter win over the doubters in ridiculous Dodgers debut

Sasaki's splitter and his four-seam fastball figure to be the bread and butter of his arsenal with the Dodgers. He averaged 98 mph on the four-seamer, which he threw 25 times against the Reds, topping out at 99.3 mph.

The fact that Sasaki is flirting with 100 mph on his fastball is encouraging, but his splitter was simply unhittable. Against the Reds, it generated seven whiffs on eight swings against it. There's some serious life on this thing.

Sasaki's splitter is so tricky because it behaves almost exactly like a fastball – until it doesn't. At the last second, it dips away and well out of the strike zone, making it nearly impossible for hitters to read.

Sasaki joined the Dodgers in January as an international amateur free agent after rising to global stardom in Japan, particularly after his performance in the World Baseball Classic last year (when that nasty splitter was on full display). Over parts of four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball, he amassed a 2.02 ERA and a 5.76 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Sasaki first became an international sensation as a 20-year-old in 2022, when he struck out 19 batters in a perfect game. Since then, his dominance has been as advertised; and if he keeps throwing that splitter, he's going to be a huge problem for Major League hitters. That spring debut was just about everything Dodgers fans could've asked for, especially since there were plenty of people out there hoping for Sasaki to falter so they'd have an excuse to cope after another dominant offseason for LA.

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