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Welcome to the California Post’s weekly Dodgers recap, where we review the week that was, hand out very official awards and take stock of the state of the season.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Has Roki Sasaki started using a bigger glove?
We’ll get to Sasaki’s improved form (and fastball velocity) in a minute.
But to the above question … yes, even if the Dodgers have tried to be coy about it.
When Sasaki took the mound for his first start of the second half last week, it was impossible not to notice that his yellow Nike glove seemed to have grown in size. Fans immediately pointed it out. So did the team’s broadcasters.
Evidently, after dealing with pitch-tipping issues a couple weeks prior, this was the solution.
When Dodgers coaches were pressed on Sasaki’s glove this week, however, they feigned ignorance about the change.
Pitching coach Mark Prior simply shrugged when asked about the change.
Assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness deadpanned: “Is it different? Looks the same to me.”
Even manager Dave Roberts claimed not to have noticed a difference.
“Clearly I missed it,” he claimed, rather unconvincingly. “But I’m happy he did.”
Indeed, Sasaki was having enough troubles this year even before pitch-tipping concerns arose in a three-inning, six-run start against the Padres on July 2.
But since then, he has improved in all areas — including his ability to hide the ball behind an oversized mitt.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Roki Sasaki (5 ⅔ innings, 1 run at Yankees last week; 3-5, 4.98 ERA on season)
Now for Sasaki’s actual pitching, which also appeared to turn a corner at Yankee Stadium last week.
For the first time in his MLB career, Sasaki averaged over 100 mph with his fastball and nearly eclipsed 102 mph a couple times. He coupled that with consistent command and deceptive execution of his breaking pitches. He, for perhaps the first time, showed how he can be a dominant big-league starter, rediscovering the form that made him a phenom prospect in Japan.
The question now is whether the right-hander can keep it up.
After all, Sasaki seemed to make progress earlier this season, during a four-start stretch from mid-May to early June in which his fastball ticked up and his ERA was 1.48.
But then, pitch tipping and other inconsistencies returned, leading to an 8.61 ERA in his last five outings before the All-Star break.
This time, Sasaki sounded confident in maintaining his improvements, having made tweaks in his lower-body mechanics that allowed him to light up the radar gun with a free-and-easy delivery.
“My pitches had strength,” he said in Japanese, “but I didn’t feel as if I was throwing that fast.”
If he can repeat it going forward, it might just be the breakthrough he and the Dodgers have been waiting for during his turbulent first two seasons in the majors.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Max Muncy (6-for-20, 3 home runs, 7 RBIs this week; .262 average, 20 home runs, 47 RBIs, .868 OPS this season)
Muncy was starting to cool off as the first half of the season wound down.
Which meant this year’s All-Star break came at the perfect time.
“That short little rest did wonders for the body,” the veteran third baseman said Wednesday, after hitting his third home run of this post-All-Star-break road trip. “I think a lot of us felt that way.”
Indeed, for an aging Dodgers team that has played — and, when accounting for their international trips the last two years, traveled — more than any other team the past couple seasons, even a couple days off can make a world of difference.
For the 35-year-old Muncy, it meant being able to punish pitches again this week the way he was earlier in the season, helping him reach the 20-homer threshold for the first time since 2023.
“Max has been swinging the bat really well,” Roberts said.
Case in point: He is leading all National League third basemen this season in OPS and FanGraphs’ version of WAR (the latter of which is also thanks to recently resurgent defense).
PROSPECT OF THE WEEK
Mike Sirota (8-for-23, 6 RBIs this week; .321 average, 14 home runs, 54 RBIs, 1.030 OPS on season)
The breakout prospect of the season in the Dodgers’ farm system, Sirota finally had his near-historic, 72-game on-base streak snapped this week, falling two games shy of the minor league record.
So, how did he respond?
With a three-hit game including two doubles. Then a two-hit game including a home run, three RBIs and a walk. Then another three-hit game with an RBI and a walk.
Just in case you were wondering how he’d deal with even the slightest bit of quote-unquote “adversity.”
That marked just the latest highlight moment from a 23-year-old outfielder who is now a consensus top-20 prospect in the sport, further entrenching him as one of the Dodgers’ seemingly “untouchable” prospects — along with the likes of fellow top-20 talent Josue De Paula –– as the trade deadline nears and Tarik Skubal rumors swirl.
FUTURE DODGER OF THE WEEK
Um … no one?
This might be a cop-out answer. But given the way the trade deadline landscape is shaping up, it’s possible there aren’t any future Dodgers out there now — or, at least not any notable names that will be added before the Aug. 3 deadline.
The big exception here, of course, could be Skubal … but only if the recently resurgent Tigers actually move him (which is appearing increasingly unlikely) and the Dodgers can match up on a trade package they feel would be fair value (not easy to do with a rental pitcher who, despite winning back-to-back Cy Young Awards, also had an elbow procedure earlier this year).
Things can change in the coming weeks, of course. The Dodgers are still monitoring the recoveries of Will Smith and Shohei Ohtani from injuries. They will remain around the proverbial “backboard” for a number of players in case an enticing opportunity arises.
However, they have also repeatedly signaled their willingness to ride with their current roster, trust that their currently injured stars will return and stand relatively pat at a deadline that could be stifled by a lack of true sellers thanks to bungled-up wild-card races.
For now, that very much appears to be a possible — if not probable — course of action.
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