The Dodgers’ pitcher injury woes are continuing to pile up, this time with heralded Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki out of action.
Sasaki did not throw at his scheduled bullpen session Tuesday and had his iright shoulder examined by the team doctor.
, a person source familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly said.
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The Dodgers soon after announced Sasaki was placed on the injured list after he was diagnosed with right shoulder impingement.
After Tuesday’s 11-1 loss to the Athletics, manager Dave Roberts said that Sasaki’s been shut down for the foreseeable future as the team treats his injury.
“I think that our goal is to get him healthy, get him strong,” Roberts said, adding that there is no timeline for Sasaki’s return. “Make sure his delivery is sound for him to pitch for us. Now with the information we’ve learned, he hasn’t been as productive as he would’ve liked because he was compromised.”
Sasaki did not say anything to the coaching staff about discomfort until his start in Arizona, Roberts said, although Sasaki admitted to having been pitching through the issue for a few weeks.
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Roberts said that after Sasaki’s most recent start, in which he pitched on five days of rest for the first time in his major league career, the 23-year-old rookie reported arm soreness. He pitched just four innings and gave up five runs on 61 pitches. Sasaki threw 90-plus pitches in his previous two starts.
“Physically, he was a little bit sore afterward,” Roberts said. “And that’s something that we’re still kind of trying to figure out — what’s normal, what’s kind of not normal.”
Sasaki, whose 100-mph fastball garnered attention in Japan, as well as his appearances pitching for Japan at the World Baseball Classic, has dipped in velocity since joining the Dodgers. He’s averaged 96 mph on his fastball, while occasionally dipping into the 92- to 93-mph range.
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Roberts did not say pregame where in Sasaki’s arm he was sore, only that it was his arm. Sasaki is 1-1 with a 4.72 earned-run average across eight starts so far in 2025.
Staff writer Dylan Hernández contributed to this report.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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