Dodgers' Roki Sasaki: Could be activated this week

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Sasaki (shoulder) will join the Dodgers in Arizona during their upcoming road trip and could be activated off the IL to join the big-league bullpen, though he won't be available to pitch until at least Wednesday, Sonja Chen of MLB.com reports.

Sasaki recently shifted to a relief role in his rehab stint and has looked great through two subsequent outings with Triple-A Oklahoma City, tossing a pair of hitless and scoreless frames while posting a 3:1 K:BB. Since his most recent appearance took place Sunday, the Dodgers won't put him on the mound again until at least Wednesday, but even in that scenario he'd still have time to make a couple major-league appearances before the end of the regular season if he's activated. Los Angeles' bullpen has been its weak point of late, so the team could look to Sasaki to shore up what has been an inconsistent relief corps, though that would be a risk in itself since the rookie hurler has (until the recent pair of rehab outings) worked exclusively as a starter throughout his professional career, both in the US and in his native Japan.