According to reports, the highest-touted Japanese pitcher in baseball history has shattered records.
According to numerous reports, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a 25-year-old who has won three consecutive MVP awards in the Pacific League of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan, has agreed to a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Following the signing of Yoshinobu’s World Baseball Classic teammate Shohei Ohtani to the largest contract in North American sports, a $700 million deal, the Dodgers proceed with their massive free agency spending binge. Additionally, they traded for Tyler Glasnow and signed him to a $135 million, five-year contract extension.
After surpassing Gerrit Cole’s $324 million deal from 2019, Yoshinobu’s contract is the biggest ever granted to a pitcher in baseball history.
Furthermore, it surpasses by more than double the previous record for the biggest contract ever offered to a Japanese import, which belonged to Masahiro Tanaka, who in 2014 inked a seven-year, $155 million agreement with the New York Yankees. The Rakuten Eagles demanded that the Bombers pay them a posting fee of $20 million.
Among the teams bidding for the right-hander in the end were the Dodgers, the Yankees, and the New York Mets.
Not only did the Dodgers offer $325 million, but the Amazins, too, reportedly made an offer of $325 million; the Bombers offered $300 million.
Yamamoto has a 1.72 ERA in seven seasons as a pitcher in Japan. This season, his ERA with the Orix Buffaloes was 1.21. He threw 138 pitches in Game 6 of the Japan Series, winning 5-1 while striking out 14 batters. In a single season in Japan, the 2.35 ERA he recorded in 2017 was his highest ever.
Yamamoto can reach 99 mph on average with his fastball. With a 4.56 K/BB, he is a great control pitcher who throws four pitches.
Ohtani’s 2024 season will be spent off the mound by the Dodgers while he heals from elbow surgery. However, Walker Buehler and Glasnow will be rotated in with Yoshinobu.
This offseason, Los Angeles has now committed to contracts worth over $1 billion.