Roki Sasaki's knuckle is here, and probably sharper than we thought.

On Tuesday night, Ronshi Sasaki was an all-around standout performer in the Dodgers' spring training debut, but his finger shot was undoubtedly the centerline.

It's no secret that the Dodgers are monopolizing the knuckle market – with Rangki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani likely to have the top three dips in the world. But the knuckle ball shown by Ronshi Sasaki on Tuesday was unique and almost impossible to hit. The Redskins hit 7 of Sasaki's 8 finger ball swings, and the only time he touched the ball was a weak high flyer. Four of Rangki Sasaki's five strikeouts came from a finger fork.

So, why is Ronki Sasaki's knuckle so sharp? Statcast data reveals why. Here are the three main characteristics of Sasaki Langshi's finger fork:

1. Very low speed
The knuckle ball is a low-revving ball, and this characteristic gives it a "falling" effect, allowing the hitter to miss the swing. But Ronshi Sasaki's knuckle spin is extremely low.

Last season, the major league knuckles averaged 1,302 rpm, while Sasaki Roxy revved just 519 rpm on Tuesday. His four finger cross strikeouts rev at 570 rpm, 542 rpm, 403 rpm and 584 rpm. It was almost close to the effect of a butterfly ball, and Ronshi Sasaki threw a knuckle ball that suppressed the speed of the game.

In the Statcast era (since 2015), Ronshi Sasaki's pinnacle speed was the lowest in a game with at least 18 pinnacles (or pinks). Interestingly, compared to the 2023 World Baseball Classic, there is a new twist on the knuckle of Langxi Sasaki. At the time, his knuckles were closer to powerdroppers, averaging 91 mph at about 1,100 rpm. On his Dodgers debut, his knuckle ball averaged 86 mph and revved around 500 rpm — slower, but with more significant rev suppression.

2. Exaggerated drops
The extremely low revs have two major results: First, Ronshi Sasaki's knuckle ball has dropped dramatically.

That means his knuckles could suddenly fall into the band (he used the knuckles twice on Tuesday to get the Redskins hitter standing and get strikeouts) or he could have the hitter chase the ball that fell outside the band of the band down. All seven of Tuesday's thumb kicks came just below the good ball zone.

No matter how you measure it, Ronshi Sasaki's dip is top-notch.

• Total vertical displacement: On Tuesday, Ronshi Sasaki's knuckle dropped an average of 43 inches. That's more than any major league finger ball last season — Astros rescue pitcher Tayler Scott and Mets Tylor Megill topped the charts with 41 inches.
• Induce vertical displacement: Ronshi Sasaki's knuckle ball produced a 5-inch drop displacement, which was also ahead of last season's major leagues. Scott's knuckle moved to the top with a 4-inch drop, followed by Red Sox starting pitcher Tanner Houck with 3 inches.

3. Bidirectional displacement
Ronki Sasaki's knuckle ball not only drops impressively, but also moves left and right.

Almost all pitch changeballs—finger balls, finger balls, speed balls, screw balls—are offset to the pitcher's dominant side. But Ronki Sasaki's knuckle ball can be displaced to both sides.

Many of his knuckles will be offset towards the side of his dominant hand, but sometimes they will also cut towards the side of the glove. In Tuesday's game, Ronshi Sasaki had a wide range of movement for his knuckles. The trajectory of the finger fork ball offset to the side of the dominant hand is similar to that of a speedball, but the fall is larger; A knuckle ball cut towards the side of the glove is close to a slider, but faster and with a slightly smaller lateral displacement.

Judging by this match, it seems that Ronshi Sasaki likes to throw a chip-and-prune ball at the left-hand hitter. Half of his knuckle shot to the Reds' left was displaced to the side of the glove (up to 6 inches), including two strikeouts to TJ Friedl and Carlos Jorge.

Against the right, he threw a more "conventional" knuckle – eight out of 10 knuckles were displaced to the side of the dominant hand or vertically, including one with a 7-inch strike out against Austin Wynns. But he still threw a couple of chipping knuckles at the right-hander, one of which left Matt McLain standing and struck out.

"He threw it so hard that it looked like a speedball," Dodgers head coach Dave Roberts said after the game, "some straight down, some to the left, some to the right." It's hard to hit because you simply don't know how it's going to change. ”

Ronki Sasaki's knuckle ball has the ability to move in both directions, which is extremely rare and makes it even more unpredictable. In the World Baseball Classic, his knuckle has shown this trait.

Ronshi Sasaki's knuckle was once regarded as one of the sharpest balls in the world, and it continued to do so after the Dodgers' spring training debut. This knuckle ball is expected to be MLB's next top ball.