Will Smith offers vote of confidence in Roki Sasaki after disappointing Dodgers rookie season

Dodgers fans don’t need to be convinced that Roki Sasaki’s ceiling is unfair. They need to be convinced that the floor isn’t going to randomly cave in again.

That’s what makes Will Smith’s spring training check-in feel important. It was the kind of calm, catcher-brain reassurance that reads like a progress report from someone who actually has to receive the pitches. Smith told SportsNet LA that Sasaki “looks good,” that he’s “throwing the ball hard,” and that the fastball and splitter both “look really good.”

He also noted Sasaki has been working on a cutter/slider hybrid and a two-seamer, something that “goes the other way” to keep hitters from sitting on the heater-splitter tunnel. 

Dodgers’ Will Smith just delivered an encouraging Roki Sasaki update

That’s the exact thing Sasaki needed after a rookie season that looked nothing like the Hollywood trailer.

The surface numbers weren’t a disaster, but they weren’t what anyone signed up for, either: a 4.46 ERA and 1.43 WHIP over 36 1/3 innings across eight starts, with 28 strikeouts, plus a shoulder impingement that sent him to the injured list. Even his fastball (which is still nasty) averaged 96.1 mph — hard, but not quite the constant jump-scare Dodgers fans expected from him.

What’s interesting is Sasaki didn’t just miss time. He lost rhythm. He had to restart the whole process, then eventually shifted into a different job description.

But the Dodgers might’ve accidentally found the cheat code inside of the mess.

Once October hit and the role got simplified, Sasaki looked like the pitcher the sport spent years thirst-posting about. Out of the bullpen in the 2025 postseason, he was dominant — a 0.84 ERA across 10.2 innings in nine appearances, piling up three saves and two holds while living in the high-leverage part of the game. 

So when Smith says Sasaki looks more confident now, with a better presence on the mound, that’s a Dodgers blueprint. Survive the growing pains, weaponize the stuff, and let the postseason version become the standard.

Also, if the cutter/slider hybrid becomes real, it could be the bridge from tantalizing to terrifying — and the difference between a prospect story and a Dodgers problem for the rest of the league.