Rob Friedman ApRoki Sasaki's high school nicknameĭoes that pitch arsenal sound completely unfair to hit? Imagine facing that in high school. That would be the second-fastest splitter in MLB.įrom his 19K Perfect game (on only 105 pitches!) /YvpflPXWN1 CBS Sports reported that his splitter averages 91.2 mph with 2.3 inches of vertical and 7.8 inches of horizontal break. Just when hitters think they have that fastball in their sites, Sasaki can drop a filthy splitter to keep them completely off balance. MORE: Roger Clemens not upset with Hall of Fame snub Jarlin Garcia and Andrew Heaney were the only pitchers who had more than 15 inches of break in both horizontal and vertical with a fastball of at least 90 mph. The fastball also had 19.8 inches of vertical and 15.4 inches of horizontal break.įor comparison, Baseball Savant listed only one pitcher (among qualifiers) as throwing more than 95 mph with at least 19 inches of vertical break in 2021, which was Dillon Maples (95.1 mph and 20.1 vertical break). According to CBS Sports, he averaged 99.5 mph on his fastball in his start against the Buffaloes.
Sasaki has a nearly unhittable pair of pitches in his fastball and splitter.Ĭoming out of high school, Sasaki became famous for already being able to throw a fastball more than 100 miles per hour. Yakyu Cosmopolitan ApRoki Sasaki pitch repertoire Roki Sasaki attributes his historic perfect game to his 18-year-old catcher, Kou Matsukawa /qJgwCK3L1b He averaged 3.9 pitches per batter.īased on game score, a stat developed by Bill James to analyze a pitcher's performance, Sasaki's perfect game earned a 106 score, one point higher than the 105 score earned by Kerry Wood, when he struck out 20 batters against the Astros and allowed one hit and no walks over nine innings. Impressively, Sasaki needed only 105 pitches to retire all 27 batters, even with the 19 strikeouts. During the game, Sasaki struck out 13 batters in a row, also an NPB record and would-be MLB record. Those 19 strikeouts set the record for the most in any game in NPB history, and would have been just shy of the MLB record of 21 set by Tom Cheney in 1962. Roki Sasaki's 19 Strikeout Perfect Game! 🍾 The previous Japanese record was 16 set by Yoshiro Sotokoba of Hiroshima back in 1968. In MLB, Matt Cain (2012) and Sandy Koufax (1965) hold the record for strikeouts in a perfect game at 14. Between the NPB and MLB, it was the most strikeouts in a perfect game thrown. Sasaki's perfect game was the 16th in NPB history and the first in the league since Hiromi Makihara's perfecto back in 1994. Was it the greatest game ever pitched? It certainly has a case for that title. The Sporting News has you covered with five things to know about the Japanese star. Sasaki is quickly becoming one of the most important names in the sport. He has retired 51 batters straight in his last two starts and 52 batters overall, a NPB record. He was pulled for the final innings in a 0-0 game to protect his arm after 102 pitches, with the Marines ultimately winning 1-0 in 10 innings. Sasaki continued his dominance Sunday with eight perfect innings and 14 strikeouts against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. MORE: Reds' Hunter Greene's MLB debut shows elite velocity and command Sasaki has been on the radar of American baseball for a while as one of the top international pitchers in the world for some time, but his perfect game made headlines in a way few since Shohei Ohtani have been able to do.
#Roki japanese professional
But there has likely never been a more perfect, perfect game than what Roki Sasaki pitched on Sunday.įacing the Orix Buffaloes in the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan, the 20-year-old hurler for the Chiba Lotte Marines retired all 27 batters he faced, including a record-tying 19 via strikeout. There have been plenty of perfect games in professional baseball.
0 kommentar(er)
