Granted, "worse" here is very much relative; Sasaki's slider still earned a 40.7 percent whiff rate in Japan this past season. But it's the pitch he throws least often, and its spin rate this spring would rank him down near the 1st percentile among all MLB breaking balls.

When they do, it'll mark the debut of Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki, one of the most anticipated recent transfers from Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league. Sasaki, 23, became the latest Japanese star to join the Dodgers when he inked a deal in January worth a $6.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have once again bolstered their pitching rotation with the addition of Roki Sasaki, a highly touted Japanese pitcher making his Major League Baseball (MLB)