LOS ANGELES — As Yoshinobu Yamamoto slid into his new uniform for the first time, his blue vest popping underneath the crisp Los Angeles Dodgers home whites, it was a coronation: one for the organization that coveted him for years, and one for the 25-year-old Japanese right-hander who inked the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history before he’d even thrown a pitch in the major leagues.
The record contract and his robust market were an indication that the Dodgers’ bullish opinion of him was a shared one. His track record of dominance in his native country was well documented. His age provided a unique opportunity. And as his new club officially introduced him Wednesday, the man who saw him as much as anyone in the organization was seated in the front row.
Galen Carr, the Dodgers’ vice president of player personnel, was far from the only person who watched Yamamoto pitch last season. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes each took treks to Osaka, Japan, to witness this offseason’s latest prize in person with the Orix Buffaloes, with Gomes raving about the experience of watching Yamamoto’s intricacies in real-time. Jon Deeble, the club’s director of scouting in the Pacific Rim, made his share of trips. So too did the club’s Pacific Rim adviser, Yogo Suzuki, and pro scout Jason Lynn. Even manager Dave Roberts spent much of the club’s recruitment of Yamamoto poring over video (as did plenty of other staffers). One of the club’s catchers, Austin Barnes, has already seen Yamamoto as well — he faced him during the World Baseball Classic in March. Yet it was Carr, who has seen Yamamoto an estimated 16 times over the past few seasons, who saw him the most, and who drew rave reviews from Gomes, Roberts and others.
“He’s been doing what he’s been doing for quite a while,” Carr said in a conversation with The Athletic on Thursday, noting a sterling track record that has seen Yamamoto take home the Sawamura Award (Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent to the Cy Young Award) three consecutive times. “Ever since he broke in at the top level of Japan, he’s basically been lights-out.”
That includes a 1.72 career ERA in 188 appearances in Japan, a run that firmly planted him on the radar for several of baseball’s deepest-pocketed clubs and puts together a compelling argument for what he can accomplish next. He’ll be paid $325 million over the next 12 years to prove it, a sizable investment for a Dodgers organization that typically has mitigated risk.
Given what they’ve seen, it’s one they’re willing to take.
Carr pointed to Yamamoto’s adaptability, including a surprise in the spring when several members of the Dodgers’ brass arrived to Samurai Japan’s training camp in Miyazaki only to find Yamamoto had drastically altered his delivery, tamping down his leg kick in favor of a slide step to help control the running game and abbreviate his movement toward the plate. To do so after any measure of success, Carr said, is “really rare.” To do so after dominating the league, and go out and put together an even better 2023?
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Mechanics (with Stop Motion) pic.twitter.com/rl1yl9XBON
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) December 18, 2023
“It’s remarkable what he was able to do,” Carr said, a consummation not just of the ability to retrain his body but the positions he can repeat even with his 5-foot-10 frame.
That is adapted and maintained by the teachings of a Japanese expert, Yata Sensei, who will accompany Yamamoto to his new home in Los Angeles, said Yamamoto’s agent, Joel Wolfe. The training methods center on “breathing, flexibility, yoga and core training,” Wolfe said, and include an array of exercises that center more on miniature soccer balls and javelins than they do lifting weights. Carr, and other club personnel, turned visits to Osaka into opportunities to ask and to learn more about those methods, as well.
“One of the important things that stood out to us was, everything he’s doing is not that conventional as far as our understanding of training methods for our sport we work in, but obviously the results speak for themselves,” Carr said. “I think with respect to injury rates and how many pitchers end up breaking down stateside, I don’t think anyone in Major League Baseball would say that we have training methods for pitchers figured out.”
It certainly has translated into a repeatable delivery and an arsenal that, as The Athletic’s Eno Sarris broke down, rivals some of the best in the sport and whose underlying data has been meticulously pored through. There remains an adaptation to the MLB ball, which lacks some of the tack that enhances the grip on the NPB one Yamamoto has gotten used to, though the right-hander used a similar ball during this year’s WBC. The Dodgers may have to adjust their plans some to help Yamamoto acclimate his schedule after pitching once a week in Japan. While Gomes said Thursday it’s uncertain whether the club will adopt a six-man rotation, only five clubs in baseball have had starters go on extra rest more often than the Dodgers since Friedman took over. If this arsenal can be retained, it’s a dynamic five-pitch mix that involves what Gomes called “truly special” command. And he knows how to use it, as Carr noted in several starts that Yamamoto’s sequencing helped mitigate the rare trouble he did find himself in at pockets last season. That, paired with the Dodgers’ game planning, could translate into immediate results, Carr said.
The Dodgers are buying into a 12-year outlay not just for what he is, but what he can be. The options are tantalizing, and the risk is great. He has been the subject of the organization’s adoration for years, the type of investment that the club would’ve pushed for even before they started a path down a record-setting offseason. His mere presence has helped shift the future of a Dodgers rotation that possesses talent, yet plenty of uncertainty. The club is positioned to take this on.
So too is Yamamoto, says the man who has watched him more than anyone in his new organization.
“He’s just an exceptional athlete and his raw stuff across the board is exceptional,” Carr said. “And there’s no other way to describe it. … We obviously weren’t the only ones that felt that way within our industry.
“It’s kind of like how you draw it up.”
(Top photo of Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
