"Straight Talk" is a regular feature in which The Sporting Tribune's John E. Gibson offers a full translation of media availability with Dodgers Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. He will also help translate when Lakers star Rui Hachimura and LA Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida are asked questions in Japanese. The job of interpreters in the heat of the moment is difficult without the ability to write down questions and answers and re-hear responses for proper context.
That's where John comes in to help. John currently works as a Japanese-English interpreter and covered pro baseball in Japan for about 20 years. His experience as a sports reporter includes stints at The Orange County Register, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Redlands Daily Facts, The Yomiuri Shimbun’s English newspaper in Tokyo and The Epoch Times.
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki (0-1) talks about the positives after his first start of the season, a four-plus inning effort in which he allowed an earned run on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.
Q: How have you found just where your stuff is at right now, especially in regard to your command and the results you got this evening?
Sasaki: I was able to challenge hitters well in the zone. I had a couple of walks, but overall, I think it was positive that I was able to go after guys with my pitches.
Q: Dave Roberts said you found something in your bullpen (session) this weekend. What was that? What adjustments have you made?
Sasaki: I’ve gotten a lot of advice from the pitching coach and others. I can’t point to one thing that has come around, but I was able to correct a number of things in my form, and I think that was a positive.
Q: Given the way the spring went, were you nervous about how tonight would go or were you pretty confident that you could pitch better than you did during camp?
Sasaki: Well, I wasn’t confident. And, honestly, I think I probably had the most anxiety of anyone. But there’s a limit to what I can control, so I just focused on that and went out and pitched.
Q: How much were you able to circumvent that you were pitching in a real game, as opposed to maybe a spring game, not really feeling the same intensity as a regular-season game today?
Sasaki: Well, since the beginning of the year, I haven’t been able to get through five innings, but the fact that I was able to pitch my best today gives me confidence, or better yet, is something I’ll take away from this outing.
Q: You were able to execute this new pitch, your cutter/slider. How much more comfortable and confident are you feeling with that pitch now?
Sasaki: So as far as today, the catcher called for that pitch a lot so I threw a bunch of them. Also, it was good that the fielders made some plays for me at times.
Q: Does this feel like more of a building block than some of the other spring training outings have been, just considering you have results to build off of?
Sasaki: So … even in spring training, I made a lot of good pitches, but at the same time, I just couldn’t get the results. So with games starting, you have to get results, and while I had some concerns, I guess I could say that with my pitches, the speed wasn’t unlike it was last year and as far how they felt, it wasn’t bad. So it terms of that, I think it was just a matter of being able to compete well in the zone today.
Q: How much about today was just resetting and letting yourself just go pitch?
Sasaki: Well, of course, with the (spring) results being poor, I had my concerns. But considering today was the real start, I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied, but with all the negative results in the spring, I can say things are better now. And because of that, I want to take this and be confident going forward.
Q: How much more confident do you feel about your velocity in assessing it this early in the season compared to last year?
Sasaki: Well, of course I have to be able to attack hitters in the zone, but to a point, right now I’m still doing things to have better control (my pitches) and that’s a little ahead right now. As for velocity, the more I throw and the more confidence I have, the more it will improve. And I was able to keep the intensity the same over the course of the game.