It all started with Masanori Murakami, at the tender age of 20, in 1964, he debuted with the San Francisco Giants as a successful Relief Pitcher. He did it again for the team in 1965, but even better. Finishing with an even 100 Strikeouts in just over 89 innings, he was sitting batters down left and right. But, due to contractual obligations, he returned to Japan to continue doing what he was for another 17 years. The NPB requires their players to reach 9 years of service before becoming true Free Agents, but, a player can request to be “posted” by their team before they reach this time, so that MLB teams may bid for their service. The most recent player being Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox. The next, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, of an unknown team as of now.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto played for the reigning champions of the WBC in 2023, team Japan. Then he went and threw 160 innings for the Orix Buffaloes, with an ERA below 1.50, and struck out 169 batters. The World Baseball Classic gave scouts a look at his stuff, albeit in a small sample size of just two appearances. He primarily relied on his above average Fastball, while also throwing an above average Curveball, and very good Changeup, rounding out his repertoire with a Cutter.
With the recent success of Japanese players moving to the States, I see no reason as to why he shouldn’t get five or more years, and around $20-22M a year on average. Yoshida, more than five years older than Yamamoto, got a five year deal at an average of $18M a year as a rookie. We saw Yu Darvish recently get a contract extension of six years with an average salary of $18M at the age of 36, more than a decade older than Yamamoto. But like Darvish, in the beginning, he may be severely underpaid since Japanese players are seen as unsuccessful (there are Japanese Pitchers whom we could name that show quite the opposite, but also proved this to be true).
Who’s In The Mix?
Teams from the West Coast the East have their eyes on Yamamoto, and their wallets ready. The Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants are all poised to make a bid for his services. He is reportedly “high” on the Dodgers wishlist for the offseason. Giants President of Operations has personally scouted and courted the 25-year old Pitcher, flying out to Japan to watch him. And speaking of the Giants, it is said that the money they saved by not signing Aaron Judge in the 2022-23 offseason will go towards their bid for Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s services. But of course, we know that neither the Yankees nor Mets ownerships care about dollars. The one thing that may be on those two teams’ side is the reported want to play on a “big market” team. Where he ends up is a crapshoot, but just know now, he will be suiting up for an MLB team in 2024.
