Yoshinobu Yamamoto the next Japanese sensation coming to MLB

Rob Friedman

FOX Sports MLB Analyst

There’s a big-time Japanese star pitcher expected to hit the market this offseason, who will single-handedly have a huge immediate impact on any MLB team’s pitching staff. 

And, no, I’m not talking about the unicorn, Shohei Ohtani, who is doubtful to pitch next year due to his injured UCL. The pitcher is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Pedro Martinez of Japanese baseball.

Last week, Yamamoto threw his second no-hitter in the past two years. He became the first Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher to throw no-hitters in back-to-back seasons since the league split into 2 divisions in 1950, and this was the 100th no-hitter in the history of the NPB. 

Yamamoto is only 25 years old and is already one of the most decorated pitchers in Japanese baseball history, winning the Sawamura Award (the NPB version of the Cy Young Award) and the NPB pitching triple crown (leading the league in Wins, ERA and Strikeouts) the past two seasons. 

Yamamoto’s career ERA is a ridiculous 1.84 and this season he’s been even better than that with a minuscule 1.26 ERA in 143 innings, while compiling a 14-5 record. He’s very likely to win his third consecutive Sawamura Award and possibly his third consecutive NPB pitching triple crown.  

Yamamoto doesn’t have an imposing frame (5-foot-10, 176 lbs) but don’t let that fool you. A lot like Pedro Martinez, he has an upper 90s fastball combined with impeccable command of several plus off-speed pitches and has an advanced feel for pitching.

My personal favorite of Yamamoto’s pitches is his unique curveball which I dubbed his “Yo-Yo” curve. Watching Yamamoto throw his curveball, you can see how it got that nickname, he releases it just like a Yo-Yo! It’s an extremely unusual and very effective pitch.

But Yamamoto’s stuff is much more than just the most unique curveball in the world. He can touch 99 mph with his fastball with a very simple windup — the ball simply jumps out of his hand.

Yamamoto’s vicious curveball and his overpowering fastball is a virtually unfair combination, as you can see in this overlay.

And, like many other top Japanese pitchers, he also has a devastating splitter that’s bound to rack up a lot of strikeouts in MLB next year.

Impressively, Yamamoto can command all his pitches and has a walk rate of 1.4 per 9 innings this season. And, while he pounds the strike zone, he still rarely lets up hard contact, giving up only two home runs all season.

With the instant success of Kodai Senga this season (third in the NL in ERA and fourth in K/9), don’t be surprised to see Yamamoto come to MLB and be similarly dominant or perhaps even more so. Yamamoto’s stats in Japan and his pitch arsenal compare very favorably to other successful Japanese pitchers who have made the jump to MLB, such as Ohtani, Senga, Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka.

In fact, Senga has personally volunteered to recruit Yamamoto to the Mets, calling Yamamoto an “amazing player.” I expect that the Mets will be all-in on signing Yamamoto since the combination of Senga and Yamamoto would form an electric core to a pitching rotation for years to come. Mets owner Steve Cohen is a noted art collector and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a pitching artist, so it’s a match made in heaven. 

Other teams who will likely compete for Yamamoto’s services are the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Phillies, and Cubs, among others. Yamamoto would instantly improve any pitching staff in baseball, and it’s likely to be a bidding war for his services. 

I can’t wait to see where Yamamoto ends up and look forward to seeing him and his Yo-Yo curve dominate major league hitters next year.

Of course, then we can turn our attention to the Roki Sasaki MLB Watch, the next, next big thing from Japan who will hopefully make the jump to the majors in the next few years. The quest to get Sasaki’s services will be legendary.

Rob Friedman is an MLB pitching analyst for FOX Sports whose work has been featured on many Major League Baseball broadcasts. Follow him on Twitter @PitchingNinja.

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