Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of the most decorated and accomplished pitchers in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league has reportedly agreed on Thursday about inking a 12-year, $325 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He will join Shohei Ohtani in the team.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was officially posted by the Orix Buffaloes on November 20 which came following 70-29 with a 1.82 ERA in 172 Nippon Professional Baseball games, striking out 922, walking 206 and yielding an 0.935 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) and just 36 homers in 172 innings. He went 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 7 ⅓ World Baseball Classic innings.
It’s worth noting that Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s four-pitch excellence features a four-seam fastball that sits in the 94- to 95-mph range, with a good ride from a lower release point, a 90-mph split-fingered fastball that features 20 inches of vertical drop, and a high-spin-rate 77-mph curve with a 77 inches of vertical drop.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto signs biggest pitching contract in MLB history
His consistent performances earned Yamamoto the largest pitching contract in MLB history. His $325 million surpassed the nine-year, $324 million deal that Gerrit Cole signed with the New York Yankees in 2019. It has been noted that The Dodgers also paid a $50.6 million posting fee to sign Yamamoto, per Passan.
Earlier this week, Dodgers were considering bids up to $300 million. However, it raised concerns when the New York Mets emerged with a deal reportedly worth $325 million. But the Dodgers agreed to match the record-breaking amount and it seems they have bagged the signing.
Unlike Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers, Yamamoto’s contract reportedly does not contain any deferrals, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
From 2021 to 2023, Yamamoto won a Japan Series title, a World Baseball Classic title, three pitching Triple Crowns, three Sawamura Awards (the Japanese Cy Young equivalent) and three Pacific League MVPs. He became the first player since Ichiro Suzuki to win three straight MVPs in NPB and only the second pitcher ever to win three, after Hisashi Yamada.
Yamamoto’s big-game prowess increased with time as in his final NPB start, a 14-strikeout complete game in an elimination game in the Japan Series that broke a series strikeout record held by Yu Darvish.
