In their final offseason, the Los Angeles signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the richest contract the pitcher has seen in MLB.
The baseball world wasn’t just confused by the $325 million price tag, but the fact that right-handers never pitched professionally in North America was an even more calamity among the suspicious. Yamamoto’s pitch I had it Throwing in Japan for seven seasons was enough for the to sign a contract with a man who would eventually become the Game 2 starter in the World Series.
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Yamamoto’s career days in seven seasons in Japanese professional baseball totaled 1.82 with a 70-29 record. Last year he finished with a 3.00 ERA, which is respectable, but throughout the seven starts of this season, Yamamoto has the lowest 0.90 mark in MLB.
“I was able to perform at a very high level,” Yamamoto said after a recent start. “I think it’s really close to my best time in Japan.”
After his final start – a casual six innings, six strikeouts, one hit performance – all but one game from Yamamoto this season were Will Smith, talking about his ace’s brilliance.
“Now he’s pitching like the best pitcher in the world,” Smith said.
Manager Dave Roberts also spoke about this obvious step Yamamoto took in his game.
“Yamamoto believes he’s who he is and he’s reached the person he was in Japan. I think he’s a better pitcher (more than last year),” Roberts said.
Statistically speaking, Yamamoto is blowing 2024 numbers out of the water despite being a vital piece to win the World Series. For seven seasons in Japan, the 26-year-old shows a big promise to return to the guy who threw no hitters in NPB play.
In fact, his latest start was hitless up to 5.2 innings.
Until pitching 40 innings, the ace has just 13 walks to 49 strikeouts, 0.925 whips, and a batting average of .171 when the batter tries to play the pitch. Whether Yamamoto’s statistics match the statistics of his career in Japan, we should not try to take him from the glorious season he is in the midst of now.
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Photo credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Image
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