The Los Angeles Dodgers will officially introduce pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto via a press conference at 3 PM Pacific Time on December 27, 2023, as Nippon Sports’ Naoyuki Yanagihara reported. The Dodgers will give him jersey number 18, often reserved for the ace pitchers of Japanese baseball teams.
Yamamoto wore the same jersey number in his seven seasons with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Orix Buffaloes. Aside from that number, the Dodgers also gave him a 12-year, $325 million contract, the most money guaranteed to a pitcher before they play their first Major League Baseball game.
Per @sponichiannex , Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Dodgers press conference is scheduled for December 27th at 3 pm.
— sky (@GonsolinRBW) December 25, 2023
The Dodgers must clear a 40-man spot to make the Yamamoto signing official. Expect news on a DFA or trade soon. pic.twitter.com/OaLkx7Qbm9
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was in a league on his own during the last three Nippon Professional Baseball seasons. He became an All-Star, a Triple Crown winner, a Pacific League MVP, and a Best Nine awardee from 2021 to 2023.
He is also a three-time Pacific League Golden Glove awardee and a three-time Eiji Sawamura Award (equivalent to MLB’s Cy Young Award) winner. More importantly, he helped the Buffaloes win the 2022 Japan Series against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in six games.
Yamamoto was virtually unhittable during his 2023 NPB campaign, posting a 17-6 record and a 1.16 earned run average. He also tallied 169 strikeouts and a 0.884 WHIP in 164 innings. He had a 1.68 ERA and a 15-5 record the year before.
Yamamoto joins a Dodgers pitching rotation that already has Tyler Glasnow, Walker Buehler, Bobby Miller, and Emmet Sheehan. The Dodgers signed Glasnow to a five-year, $135 million extension.
Meanwhile, $700 million ace Shohei Ohtani will focus as designated hitter in 2024 due to an elbow injury that required surgery. He will return to the pitching mound in 2025.
With Yamamoto officially joining, the Dodgers must open a spot for him in their 40-man roster. Therefore, an update on who the team will release should come before the press conference.
-Lance Fernandez