Yoshinobu Yamamoto says Shohei Ohtani helped sell him on Dodgers

Pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto smiles during a news conference at Dodger Stadium

Staff Writer

Dec. 27, 2023 Updated 6:42 PM PT

The Dodgers unveiled yet another Tokyo giant on Wednesday, officially adding highly touted Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a $1.025-billion Pacific Rim portfolio that is anchored by two-way star Shohei Ohtani.

Yamamoto’s introductory news conference in Dodger Stadium resembled the one announcing Ohtani’s 10-year, $700-million deal two weeks ago with about 100 media members in attendance — Ohtani had 300 — and fans watching Yamamoto don his blue-and-white No.18 Dodgers jersey on live television in the U.S. and Japan.

The blockbuster deal continued what manager Dave Roberts called a “monumental offseason,” the Dodgers signing Ohtani to a record contract, acquiring Tyler Glasnow from Tampa Bay and signing the veteran right-hander to a five-year, $136.5-million extension and signing the 25-year-old Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325-million deal.

Ohtani will be limited to hitting in 2024 while he recovers from Tommy John surgery, but a Dodgers rotation plagued by injuries and inexperience last season will now feature erstwhile ace Walker Buehler, who is returning from his second Tommy John surgery, Glasnow, Yamamoto and breakout rookie Bobby Miller.

“You can never have enough starting pitching — all of us in baseball realize that — but certainly, the landscape of our starting staff has changed considerably over the last few weeks,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to compare year to year, players to players, staffs to staffs, but this is a pretty good staff we got.”

Yamamoto’s deal includes a $50-million signing bonus and opt-outs after the sixth and eighth years, but there is no deferred money, in stark contrast to Ohtani, who deferred $680 million of his deal until after it expires, freeing up resources for the Dodgers to pursue more players.

“The fact that Shohei was willing to do that signaled that it wasn’t just the front office, it was also the players that have bought into this winning atmosphere,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Mako Allbee. “That really resonated with me.”

The $325 million the Dodgers committed to Yamamoto marks the largest total amount guaranteed to a pitcher, surpassing the nine-year, $324-million deal that Gerrit Cole signed with the New York Yankees in 2020. The Dodgers will also pay a $50.6-million posting fee to Japan’s Orix Buffaloes, Yamamoto’s former team.

The Dodgers beat out at least a dozen other clubs that aggressively pursued Yamamoto, including both New York teams, the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox. The Yankees reportedly offered Yamamoto $300 million over 10 years, and the Mets reportedly offered $325 million over 12 years but with only one opt-out.

Ohtani, who has added “recruiting coordinator” to his already vast skill set, helped lure Yamamoto to Los Angeles, joining fellow most valuable player award winners Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman for a Dec. 12 sales pitch to Yamamoto — his World Baseball Classic teammate last spring — in Dodger Stadium.

“I wouldn’t say [Ohtani] was the sole reason I decided to come here — even if he went somewhere else, I probably would have ended up in L.A. as a Dodger,” Yamamoto said. “But on top of that, Shohei is not only one of the best Japanese players, but he’s one of the best players, period, in all of MLB.

“It was very important to be with a team that wants to win, not only now but in the future as well. And I really felt throughout this process that the Dodgers provided that opportunity the most.”

Yamamoto, the 12th Japanese-born player in Dodgers history, was dominant in Japan, going 70-29 with a 1.82 ERA in 172 Nippon Professional Baseball games over eight seasons, striking out 922, walking 206 and giving up only 36 homers in 897 innings.

He went 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 71/3 innings for Japan’s WBC-winning team last spring. Yamamoto won the past three Pacific League MVPs and Sawamura Awards, the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young Award.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has his tie fixed before a news conference in the center field plaza at Dodger Stadium.

Though not physically imposing, the 5-foot-10, 176-pound Yamamoto features a four-seam fastball that sits in the 94 to 95-mph range and touches 97 mph with good ride from a lower release point, a nasty 86 to 92-mph split-fingered fastball with a 32-inch drop, a 77-mph curve that averages 66 inches of drop and a 93-mph cut-fastball.

“Being able to watch Yoshinobu pitch, his stuff is special,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “The command is up there with the upper echelon of guys I’ve seen command the baseball … That command not only allows him to go deep into games, but when needed, he can feature swing-and-miss stuff that is elite.”

There is some debate among scouts as to whether Yamamoto will be a true ace or more of a No. 2 or 3 starter, and most talent evaluators expect Yamamoto to give up more homers in the major leagues, where hitters are bigger, stronger and looking to do more damage than hitters in Japan, where contact is king.

But there seems to be little doubt that Yamamoto’s stuff will play in the major leagues.

“I got first-hand experience being able to watch him, and I think he will, unfortunately, be just fine with the transition to the big leagues,” said St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar, who played center field for Japan’s WBC team last spring. “I think he will be dominant for a long time.”

A bigger concern for some scouts is that a pitcher who is so small and throws so hard will be more susceptible to a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament and will eventually require Tommy John surgery.

But Joel Wolfe, Yamamoto’s agent, believes the rigorous training routine that the pitcher developed in Japan — under the guidance Yata Sensei, who will accompany Yamamoto to the U.S. — could mitigate the risk of major injury.

“He does a unique style of training, both on the pitching side and the training side, with Yoshinobu,” Wolfe said of Sensei. “It’s a combination of breathing, flexibility and yoga and core training.

“One of the things the Dodgers and we noticed was a high percentage of pitchers who pitched in the WBC last year, over 80%, either regressed or sustained injuries over the course of the season. Yoshinobu was not one of them.

“He actually went the opposite direction and got better. … His stuff improved, and that was a big part of why so many teams were so aggressive in pursuing him.”

Yamamoto said his biggest challenge in transitioning to the major leagues, in addition to the adjustment to a new country and culture, will be adjusting to pitching every fifth or sixth day, a more demanding workload than his once-a-week schedule in Japan.

Gomes wouldn’t say if the Dodgers would switch to a six-man rotation to accommodate Yamamoto next season, but they’ve gotten into the habit of giving their starters extra rest in recent seasons, so that should ease Yamamoto’s transition.

Even last season, when the rotation was ravaged by injuries, Dodgers pitchers made only 42 starts on regular (four days) rest, 67 starts on five days’ rest and 44 starts on six or more days’ rest.

“One thing we’ve done really well over the years is make sure our pitchers have enough rest,” Gomes said. “We’ve been fortunate to have enough depth to drop guys in when needed, and we’ll continue to be nimble on that front.”

The Dodgers blew past the third luxury tax threshold of $277 million with the signing of Yamamoto, who pushed the club’s projected 40-man competitive balance tax payroll for 2024 to about $288 million. One more pricey acquisition would likely push the Dodgers past the fourth and final luxury tax threshold of $297 million.

With such spending comes even more pressure for the Dodgers, who have won 10 of the last 11 National League West titles but only one World Series championship — in pandemic-shortened 2020 — to win multiple titles over the next decade. They were bounced from the first round of the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 despite winning 100 or more games in each season.

“I don’t think the expectation is any different,” Gomes said. “We are expected to win the World Series every year. That’s our expectation going into spring training. So we hold ourselves to the highest standard. External pressure is external. We trust that [Roberts] will have our guys in a great mindset to get ready to win each and every game.”

As for Yamamoto, he seems to welcome the spotlight. He attended a playoff game in Dodger Stadium in 2019 and was impressed with the atmosphere and said it felt “surreal” to stand atop the Dodger Stadium mound on Wednesday.

“From today moving forward, I promise to all the fans of L.A. that I will focus my everything to become a better player and become a world champion as a member of the Dodgers,” Yamamoto said. “I will stop simply admiring the players I looked up to, but rather strive to become the player that others want to become.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto says Shohei Ohtani’s unique contract helped sell him on the Dodgers

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