One of Japan's biggest young stars, flame-throwing right-hander Roki Sasaki worked out Tuesday as Japan's national baseball team prepared to face Australia in a pair of international friendlies over the following two days.
The games at Sapporo Dome are Samurai Japan's first international tests ahead of next March's World Baseball Classic, where Australia will be an opening-round pool opponent.
The Lotte Marines' Sasaki, who turned 21 last week, became the youngest to pitch a perfect game in April and is scheduled to start Thursday's second game for Samurai Japan at Sapporo Dome, where he has yet to pitch.
"I think I'll rely mostly on fastballs and forkballs. I'll first want to get a sense for the batters' characteristics, and then hopefully I can adapt an approach for them during the game," said Sasaki, who hasn't pitched in a game since Sept. 26.
His 2022 season was a mixture of sublime results and occasional deactivations when his body was unable to recover sufficiently from the wear and tear of his starts.
In addition to his fitness, Sasaki's ability to command his pitches using the slicker WBC tournament ball will be key to whether he can be a big weapon for Japan next spring.
"First of all, my task is to avoid injury," he said. "Then it will be a matter of my pitching as well as I'm able."
