LOS ANGELES – When Yoshinobu Yamamoto slipped into his new uniform for the first time, his blue vest peeking out from beneath the Los Angeles Dodgers' fresh home jerseys, it was a coronation: one for the organization that had coveted him for years, and one for the 25-year-old one-year Japanese right-hander who signed the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history before he had even thrown a pitch in the major leagues.
The record deal and his robust market were an indication that the Dodgers had a shared optimistic view of him. His track record of dominating his home country is well documented. His age presented a unique opportunity. And when his new club officially introduced him on Wednesday, the man who saw him as often as anyone in the organization sat in the front row.
Galen Carr, the Dodgers' vice president of player personnel, was far from the only one who watched Yamamoto pitch last season. Andrew Friedman, President of Baseball Operations, and Brandon Gomes, General Manager, each traveled to Osaka, Japan to witness the Orix Buffaloes' latest award this offseason in person. Gomes raved about the experience of watching Yamamoto's intricacies in real time. Ron Deeble, the club's Pacific scouting director, made numerous trips. The same was true for the club's Pacific Rim advisor Yogo Suzuki and pro scout Jason Lynn. Even manager Dave Roberts spent much of the club's time recruiting Yamamoto videotaping (as did many other employees). One of the club's catchers, Austin Barnes, has also seen Yamamoto before – he faced him during the World Baseball Classic in March. Still, it was Carr, who saw Yamamoto an estimated 16 times over the last few seasons, who saw him the most and who received rave reviews from Gomes, Roberts and others.
“He's been doing what he's been doing for quite some time,” Carr said in a conversation with The Athletic on Thursday, citing a stellar track record that has led to Yamamoto receiving the Sawamura Award (the equivalent of Nippon's Cy Young Award Professional Baseball) took home. three times in a row. “Since he found his footing at the highest level in Japan, he has basically lost his way.”
That includes a career ERA of 1.72 in 188 appearances in Japan, a run that has cemented him firmly with several of baseball's deepest clubs and makes a compelling case for what he can accomplish next. To prove it, he'll be paid $325 million over the next 12 years, a sizable investment for a Dodgers organization that typically mitigates risk.
Given what they've seen, they're willing to take it.
Carr pointed out Yamamoto's adaptability, including a surprise in the spring when several Dodgers players arrived at Samurai Japan's training camp in Miyazaki to find that Yamamoto had drastically changed his delivery, reducing his leg kick in favor of a slide-step-to-help in controlling the running game and shortening its movement towards the plate. Doing this after achieving some degree of success is “really rare,” Carr said. To do this after dominating the league and putting together an even better 2023?
“It's remarkable what he's accomplished,” Carr said, an accomplishment not only in the ability to retrain his body but in the positions he can repeat even with his 5-foot-11 frame.
This will be adapted and sustained 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 focus on “breathing, flexibility, yoga and core training,” Wolfe said, and include a range of exercises that are more about miniature soccer balls and javelins than lifting weights. Carr and other club staff also used visits to Osaka as an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about these methods.
“One of the main things that struck us was that everything he does is not that conventional in terms of our understanding of the training methods for our sport that we work in, but the results obviously speak for themselves,” said Carr. “I think in terms of the injury rates and the number of pitchers breaking down in the United States, I don't think anyone in Major League Baseball would say that we've figured out training methods for pitchers.”
This has certainly resulted in a repeatable performance and an arsenal that, as The Athletic's Eno Sarris broke down, rivals some of the sport's best and whose underlying data has been meticulously mined. It remains an adjustment to the MLB ball, which lacks some of the grip that enhances the NPB's grip that Yamamoto has become accustomed to, although the right-hander used a similar ball in this year's WBC. The Dodgers may have to adjust their plans slightly to help Yamamoto adjust to his schedule after pitching once a week in Japan. While Gomes said Thursday it was uncertain whether the club would adopt a six-man rotation, since Friedman took over, only five baseball clubs have let starters take extra rest more often than the Dodgers. If this arsenal can be maintained, it will be a dynamic five-pitch mix that includes what Gomes called a “really special” command. And he knows how to use it, as Carr found in several starts that Yamamoto's order helped mitigate the rare problems he ran into in the pocket last season. Combined with the Dodgers' game-planning, that could produce immediate results, Carr said.
The Dodgers are accepting a 12-year investment not just because of who he is, but because of what he can be. The possibilities are tempting and the risk is great. He's been the object of the organization's adoration for years, the kind of investment the club would have been pushing for even before heading into a record-breaking offseason. His mere presence has helped change the future of a Dodgers rotation that has talent but also plenty of uncertainty. The club is capable of handling this.
That goes for Yamamoto too, says the man who has watched him more than anyone else in his new organization.
“He’s just an exceptional athlete and his raw performances are exceptional across the board,” Carr said. “And there’s no other way to describe it. … Apparently we weren't the only ones in our industry who felt this way.
“It’s a little bit like how you set it up.”
(Top photo by Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)