It was fitting that Roki Sasaki made his first appearance in a game with the Dodgers at the exact same time I was working on my Breakouts 2.0 update. It felt like he was taunting me.  First pitch: 99.

YouTube Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman recap Roki Sasaki’s spring ball debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he threw three shutout innings. What can we expect from the Japanese phenom this season?

Just how finished is Roki Sasaki as a product? That’s the question the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t necessarily have to answer right away, but the answer might decide just how much the 23-year-old right-hander swings the team’s odds of being the first repeat champions since Sasaki has been alive.