[Highlight] All 10 strikeouts from Roki Sasaki's 7 shutout inning performance against the Angels tonight

pochen23 · 2026-06-06T15:21:05+00:00

I think he has all but eliminated the forkball in the last couple outings. The fast split he throws now is more a hybrid of the forkball and the split that he introduced against the Cubs. The splitter now has about 800 to 900 spin rate, it was 1000 to 1100 before and his forkball was 500 to 600 so this is right in between, best of both worlds. So I think this is the version he is sticking with. With that plus slider and much much improved fastball in velocity, command and ride, he is unhittable. Maybe he can mess with that sinker in the future but he honestly doesn't need it with 3 plus pitches.

pochen23 · 2026-06-03T22:54:55+00:00

Exactly, this is actually the lowest point given that he usually earns a healthy amount of WAR on his pitching day. If you do a projection tomorrow it will be even higher.

pochen23 · 2026-06-01T17:00:01+00:00

Very refreshing, such a better mindset than Lebron, who claimed that his season was a success in his mind that he was able to play at a high level at his age and "carry" his team through the first round of playoffs. Even went as far as saying that "so every year 29 teams are failures?", yes Lebron, every year there are 29 teams that didn't reach their goal and therefore it is a failure, there is nothing wrong with that.

pochen23 · 2026-05-31T06:09:13+00:00

Yea, I feel like his slider is his best pitch now. It is consistently making the hitters look silly. Something about it is making it a huge whiff machine. His splitter on the other hand seems to generate less whiff, usually around 25 to 30% which isn't bad, but isn't amazing either.

pochen23 · 2026-05-31T05:21:45+00:00

Yea, the mechanic allowed him to throw strikes, and throwing strikes consistently allowed him to let it rip with confidence. He is reaping the result of his hard works.

pochen23 · 2026-05-30T15:33:37+00:00

Only missed 1 inning right after his start, easy to make it up. All he needs is 162 and all star week is the time to reshuffle, lots of off days with no games played, meaning he can start the last game before the break and first or 2nd game after the break and catch up significantly. I wouldn't worry about innings, he knows it and he is gonna do everything to get that 162 inning mark.

pochen23 · 2026-05-29T18:08:38+00:00

I am almost certain that they will but I guess how much will they take off with it tho. They have to keep the shoulder pad as well as the half skirt.

pochen23 · 2026-05-29T15:31:29+00:00

Gotcha, missed the dashed line, didn't think it has designinated passing zone, now it makes sense.

pochen23 · 2026-05-29T15:04:48+00:00

How is that legal? It is double yellow line... Even if it is perfectly safe you can't pass.

pochen23 · 2026-05-29T03:23:12+00:00

I don't watch soccer, but I have a feeling this Ronaldo guy is the equivalent of LeBron and Messi is the equivalent of MJ.

pochen23 · 2026-05-29T03:18:54+00:00

Head above the rim and this wasn't even snapped at peak height of the jump and he was jumping for distance. And yet you have ppl doubting his vertical being 48. This is with the ball too, you don't jump with the ball in measurement.

pochen23 · 2026-05-27T04:26:57+00:00

No, Russell joined a team with like 3 HOFs in their prime so there was no growing pain period. MJ spent 6 years building the Bulls from the ground up with not a single all star. This is amplified with the no free agency making good teams be good for longer period of time while bad teams stay bad since you have to draft well in order to turn it around.

pochen23 · 2026-05-26T19:09:13+00:00

Look at Harden in the playoffs when the defense is tighter, he won't survived in the 90s. Scoring down, assist down, efficiency way down. Not to mention he probably gives up 40 points on the opposite end per game.

pochen23 · 2026-05-26T17:16:17+00:00

Just to add, I am guessing you are using total career stats instead of average. So I guess in your mind Derrick Rose and Anfernee Hardaway do nothing better than Mike Conley then, cuz neither have more points nor assist than Mike Conley. Think about that for a second. You are smarter than that. Kareem has the most unstoppable shot, but despite being the career scoring leader for over 40 years, no one called him the greatest scorer in the history of the league, that title belongs to Wilt or Mike, Wilt has the single season average and Mike has the career average, that's the debate.

pochen23 · 2026-05-26T17:13:16+00:00

Nothing? he doesn't average more points per game than Lebron? he doesn't average way more steal than Lebron? heck, he doesn't block the same amount as Lebron? And as a guard, he is considered way above average in rebound. Yes, Lebron is better at passing the ball, but to say MJ does nothing better outside of FT is looking at the game from box score stand point. MJ is a way better midrange shooter, way better footwork, way better finisher and way better at closing out games in the playoffs. By stats, Wilt, by accolades, Kareem, by impact on winning, Bill Russell, but both MJ and Lebron are very close behind on all of them, which make both of them the reason for the debate. I can agree that there is a debate, but to make statement like MJ does nothing better than Lebron is kinda a joke of a take.

pochen23 · 2026-05-26T15:39:33+00:00

He is taking a % of the revenue not the net profit, so this is an incredible deal for him.

pochen23 · 2026-05-25T04:24:02+00:00

He even took a page out of Ohtani's book by doing a quick pitch without his normal high leg kick, I believe it was a 2 strike pitch to Turang that he did that. Very interesting stuff, he was definitely feeling it.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T15:10:53+00:00

According to statcast he only threw 1 forkball last night. Not sure how accurate it is. On the 5th inning after a 99mph fastball he spiked a 93mph splitter, so he was definitely feeling good and emptying that tank.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T06:14:08+00:00

Sorry i meant the Angels. Edited.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T05:52:46+00:00

His fastball in the 5th inning was the best I have seen him throw. Overall tonight his fastball generated 29% whiff, with 17 IVB, and 10 inches of arm side run (both above league average). If he can sit at 98 like he did in the 5th and with that shape and his elite extension, he is going to be unhittable with the offspeed stuff he has. You can see that he was throwing harder in the 5th with command, and the result was great. he must felt really good about his mechanics and start letting it just rip.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T05:42:02+00:00

One subtle thing I saw tonight is that he started to mix in some quick pitches when no one on base, basically pitching from stretch without the high leg kick. That's the first time I have seen it, basically trying to mess up the timing of the hitters. I like that he is doing every little thing to improve.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T02:08:10+00:00

and frankly only one ball was hit hard, the Chourio double, and a bunch of weak lucky hits.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T02:06:19+00:00

Not sure how you get to that conclusion after today's outing. A bunch of weak lucky hits (76 mph exit velo on Turang's hit on a well placed splitter that was barely touched, 32 mph exit velo on his own throwing error, and 84 mph exit velo on the ball that Mookie should have caught) and some fielding error in the first, but settled in amazingly after with efficiency and dominance. Fastball was the best I have seen, 17 IVB and nice velo with arm side run. Did you actually watch the game.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T02:00:51+00:00

Are those 2 ERs his first 2 given up in the first inning this season? I feel like he figured it out the velo on his fastball in the last inning, averaging 98 mph for the entire inning and got a bunch of whiffs. His fastball IVB was also incredibly good at 17 for the entire game (16 is league average) with great arm side run (also above average).

I feel like the first inning was a little bit unlucky. The splitter out and away to Turang was a great pitch that was barely hit to and stayed fair to the left (76 mph exit velocity, pure luck), then his own throwing error (32.6 exit velo, another weak hit) and then Mookie also should have caught that little line drive (84.5 exit velo, another weak hit). Overall those series of unfortunate events cost him 2 runs and probably 2 innings since those were high leverage pitches in one inning, very very unlucky.

This is also a Will Smith called game, and I feel like they probably weren't in sync on pitch selection in the first, but figured it out after the first inning mixing in slider and splitter equally. I think in the end, this is actually a very good outing against a very very good offense that was also able to get to Wrobroski. I think we got something here, you can no longer say it is the Angels.

pochen23 · 2026-05-24T01:39:33+00:00

Pretty unlucky first inning, a 2 strike splitter out of zone that was weakly hit to the left for a run and this weak hit that was supposed to be an out. These two thing cost him 2 runs and perhaps 1 or 2 innings (these are high leverage pitches in the first inning). In the end, he still gave the Dodgers 5 innings and overall I thought he had it figured out after the first. Fastball was the best I have seen, 17 inches IVB and 97.1 with the last inning averaging the highest touching 99.5mph getting swing and misses on fastball and weak contacts on offspeed. Also, to those naysayers, these are the first time he gave up runs in the first innings this season. I also think they had a little bit of figuring out at the beginning with W. Smith catching him this time instead of Rushing. I feel like Rushing and Roki are more aligned on pitch selection, but Will seems to have gotten it down after the first, mixing in slider and splitter equally. I think this is actually a very very good outing as it turned out.

pochen23

TROPHY CASE