Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto seen delivering in the World Baseball Classic on Mar 20, 2023 in Miami. Yamamoto has joined the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thu Dec 21, 2023 on a 12 year contract. (AP file photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg and Lewis Rubman

Super star Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is dealing at the bargaining table before he starts dealing on the mound. Yamamoto signed a 12 year $325 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers joining Japanese two way player pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani.

If Ohtani was pitching this season the two would have a lot of fireside chats in the Dodgers bullpen but as everyone well knows Ohtani will be the Dodgers designated hitter. Yamamoto a right hander becomes the second highest paid guaranteed pitcher.

Yamamoto won three straight Sawamura Awards which is Japan’s equal to MLB’s Cy Young Award. Yamamoto was one of the best pitchers to come through the Japan’s big leagues in it’s 74 year history. Yamamoto was a well sought after pitcher with the New York Mets who were the expected front runners for Yamamoto followed by the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays.

Yamamoto had an amazing run in Japanese ball throwing 820 1/3 innings with a 1.65 ERA and allowed only one home run in every 28 innings pitched. Yamamoto has a mix of pitches split finger, a curve ball that loops and has hitters off balance and bend their knees to take a swipe at it and a devastating 99 MPH fast ball.

Yamamoto is noted as being as good as any pitcher that came from Japan. He’s 5’10 and 176 pounds. He most likely will be the number one pitcher in the Dodger starting rotation. He will have Ohtani with him to give him pointers on how to throw to certain hitters that he faced when he pitched.

With the acquisition of Yamamoto and Ohtani’s encouragement behind him this could catapult the Dodgers into the NL West stratosphere with Yamamoto’s pitching and Ohtani’s hitting. The Dodgers failed to make it to the NL Championship series last season so there are big expectations for them to make it to the World Series this season with Yamamoto and Ohtani on their roster.

Yamamoto’s sterling record in Japan doesn’t, however, guarantee him success in Los Angeles.  In a recent interview with Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News, Brian Cashman noted some of the differences between the Nippon Professional Association and MLB.

These include a difference in the size the baseball in the two organizations; multi-time zone travel in the States; the longer MLB season; Japan’s traditional Monday days off; the use of the six man rotation rotation in Japan; and the higher overall level of play in the MLB.

Cashman, who was wooing Yamamoto at the time, added that his scouts were confident that he could overcome these possible obstacles to stateside success. The Yankee scouts might very well be correct in their assessment, but that doesn’t mean that the Dodgers have a lock on the 2024 season and beyond.

Jerry Feitelberg and Lewis Rubman are both MLB beat writers for http://www.sportsradioservice.com