Nippon Professional Baseball’s Sasaki Rocky (22, Chiba Lotte)’s strikeout ability is getting more and more powerful.스포츠토토
Sasaki is turning batters around like autumn leaves with his fastball of over 160km and forkball of 140km. Since May, his strikeout rate has reached 50%.
Sasaki recorded his first loss of the season in an exchange match against Hanshin on the 4th, but his strikeouts were taken away by 10. He allowed only 1 hit in 6 innings and became the losing pitcher with 4 walks, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts and 1 run. 0-2 defeat of Chiba Lotte.
It was a no-hit pitching with 9 strikeouts until the 5th inning. He only gave up 4 on 4 balls. After walking the leadoff batter in the sixth inning, he allowed two stolen bases, a wild throw, and a timely hit, allowing the only run.
Chiba Lotte Sasaki.
Sasaki is 4-1 with a 1.23 ERA in seven games this season. He threw 44 innings, giving up 17 hits and 10 walks while striking out 69. In mid-May, he had a break for over 20 days due to a finger blister injury. This keeps him from filling the regulation innings (48 innings).
Orix’s Miyagi Hiroya (22) ranks first in the Pacific League’s ERA with a 1.68 ERA. Sasaki ranks first in off-field ERA. In the strikeout category, Sasaki ranks first with 69. He moved into first place, ahead of teammate Atsuki Taneichi (65).
In terms of his strikeout ability, Sasaki is overwhelming. Sasaki, in his third year as a professional, has faced 161 batters in seven games this season, striking out 69 batters. 14.11 strikeouts per 9 innings. The strikeout rate is 42.9%.
Last year, he struck out 173 batters in 20 games, striking out 490 batters. The strikeout rate per 9 innings was 12.04, and the strikeout rate was 35.3%. Compared to last year, his ‘Doctor K’ ability has improved this year.
Sasaki participated in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March with the Japanese national team and contributed to Japan’s championship by playing an active role in two games (7⅔ innings) with a ERA of 3.52 and 11 strikeouts. He pitched 6 innings and struck out 11 scoreless runs in his first appearance of the season, and scored 10K or more four times in his 7 appearances.
He struck out 38 batters against 98 batters in 4 games in April, for a strikeout rate of 38.7%. However, in three games since May, he recorded 31 strikeouts against 63 batters, and his strikeout rate is a whopping 49.2%. That’s one out of two strikeouts.