Two years ago, about a week before Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his MLB debut, a number of players and coaches from the Orix Buffaloes offered me scouting reports about their former ace.
There, in an underground parking structure attached to the Buffaloes’ home stadium in Osaka, there was no trace of the skepticism that was permeating“He really understands what he wants to do and what his goals are, and he pursues them without wavering,” veteran Buffaloes reliever Yoshihisa Hirano said to me in Japanese at the time.
. He lasted just one inning and was charged with five runs in the second game of the Dodgers’ season-opening series in South Korea.Don’t worry, Dodgers fans. Field naming rights at Dodger Stadium is just business Now, this season, the now-27-year-old Yamamoto will be the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter. He will scale the mound at Dodger Stadium as a World Series hero, and, by Shohei Ohtani’s estimation, “the No. 1 pitcher in the world.” Every now and then, Yamamoto’s former teammates will travel stateside to watch him pitch. They never sound surprised by what he does.“He really understands what he wants to do and what his goals are, and he pursues them without wavering,” veteran Buffaloes reliever Yoshihisa Hirano said. In fact, conversations about Yamamoto often start with comments about his personality, which seems entirely unaffected by his stature.He was a three-time league MVP in Japan, but the Buffaloes’ groundskeeper described him to me as one of the least-demanding pitchers he came across in his two decades with the team. “Some pitchers are, like, ‘If the mound isn’t like this, I can’t pitch,’” Yosuke Iwata told me on the visit I made to Kyocera Dome two years ago to report on a column I wrote.Yamamoto wasn’t like that, not when he broke into the Buffaloes’ first team as a teenager and not when he departed as the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball., Yoshihiro Sonoda, was struck by how grounded he was when they first met at the team’s spring training facility in Arizona. When Yamamoto finished his trademark javelin-throwing routine, Sonoda started to pick up the spears. Yamamoto intervened.Some players treat their teammates one way and everyone else another, but Sonoda noticed that Yamamoto didn’t make any such distinctions. Whenever ordering a Starbucks delivery to the team hotel, Yamamoto always buys something for Sonoda.If being spiritually centered has made Yamamoto unusually considerate of the Dodgers’ rank-and-file employees, it has also made him extremely decisive on baseball matters.If being spiritually centered has made Yamamoto unusually considerate of the Dodgers’ rank-and-file employees, it has also made him extremely decisive on baseball matters.Japanese culture encourages orthodoxy, and that extends to sports. Superiors’ orders are expected to be followed without question. What characterized Yamamoto’s seven seasons in Japan was a conviction to defy authority. Standing only 5-foot-10, Yamamoto was a fourth-round draft pick. His first year in pro ball was considered a resounding success. He dominated the minor leagues, leading to his call-up to the Buffaloes’ first team, where he made five starts.But when Yamamoto reported to spring training in the next year, in 2018, he did so with an entirely new delivery. When I spoke to Buffaloes pitching coach Masafumi Hirai two years ago, he acknowledged he was shocked. “To be honest, he drastically changed after performing well the year before, so my first thought was, ‘Is this OK?’” Hirai said. The modifications Yamamoto made were opposed by virtually everyone in the organization. He was a 19-year-old, second-year player in a society where seniority is a major factor defining a person’s place in social hierarchies. Which meant that in this case, he wasn’t in a position to do whatever he wanted.But when Yamamoto reported to spring training in the next year, in 2018, he did so with an entirely new delivery.Yamamoto was now training with Osamu Yada, a biomechanics expert who was introduced to him by a mutual acquaintance. Yada remains by Yamamoto’s side to this day. Yada’s workouts, which emphasized flexibility and body control, addressed Yamamoto’s concerns about his recovery time after starts. The now-famous javelin program was designed to help him develop an efficient throwing motion that would reduce stress on his elbow.“He delivered results that were good enough to make us shut up,” said Hirai, the Buffaloes’ pitching coach.Following a 2022 season in which he won his second league MVP award, Yamamoto modified his delivery again, replacing his leg lift with a slide step toward home plate. “A pitcher that good, you’d think he wouldn’t want to change,” Hirai said. “It’d be a different conversation if he was struggling.This is what the Buffaloes knew about Yamamoto. This is why they knew he would come to dominate the major leagues, regardless of how his debut went. Suzuki, his teammate-turned-reporter, recalled speaking to Yamamoto after the Dodgers returned to Los Angeles from the Seoul Series in 2024.Rather than being consumed by doubts of whether he could pitch in the major leagues, Suzuki said, Yamamoto was calmly analyzing the mistakes he made against the Padres.Which isn’t to say Yamamoto didn’t experience any emotional turmoil in his first season with the Dodgers. “I’m by no means strong mentally,” he said. “When I get hit, there are times I get really down. But as time passes, things clear up. What I do becomes clear.” And this here could be the key to everything: He can identify a problem and figure out how to remedy it.Yamamoto was torched in the opening game of the series, giving up five runs in only three innings. Between starts, he changed how he positioned his glove, which the Dodgers speculated revealed to the Padres what kind of pitch he was about to deliver.In a winner-take-all fifth game of the series, Yamamoto pitched five scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series. “I think that was the game for which I was the most nervous in my entire baseball career,” said Yamamoto, who described the start as an inflection point. He now knew he could thrive on the grandest stages against the best of opponents. The key was to stay on the field. After being sidelined for three months of the 2024 season with shoulder problems, Yamamoto was the only Dodgers pitcher last year to not miss a start. The more he pitched, the more he learned how hitters reacted to his pitches. By the end of the regular season, he was calling his own pitches. By the end of the postseason, he was a World Series legend. He’s now eyeing a Cy Young Award, a prize no Japanese pitcher has won. He returned from the offseason with a more muscular frame, which could help him improve his consistency. Reporting at the World Baseball Classic, Suzuki observed that Yamamoto didn’t appear as devastated as other Japanese players in the wake of his country’s quarterfinal loss to Venezuela.Barry Bonds reveals the George Steinbrenner contract ultimatum that kept him from being a YankeeLefty's gem, second-inning outburst propel Yankees to blowout winMike Vaccaro“He really understands what he wants to do and what his goals are, and he pursues them without wavering,” veteran Buffaloes reliever Yoshihisa Hirano said.If being spiritually centered has made Yamamoto unusually considerate of the Dodgers’ rank-and-file employees, it has also made him extremely decisive on baseball matters.But when Yamamoto reported to spring training in the next year, in 2018, he did so with an entirely new delivery.Stream It Or Skip It: 'Bait' On Prime Video, Where Riz Ahmed Is A Struggling Actor Who Helps Start A Rumor About Him Being The Next James Bond
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