What kind of uniform will Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix Buffaloes), the representative메이저사이트 of Japanese professional baseball, wear after the 2023 season ends? First of all, it is clear that the New York Mets are very interested.
“A very interesting starting rotation option for the New York Mets next year and beyond will be 24-year-old Nippon Professional Baseball ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto,” said SNY on the 18th (Korean time), saying that the Mets are interested in signing Yamamoto. reported the news.
Yamamoto is the ‘ace’ representing Japanese professional baseball. Yamamoto, who was nominated by Orix in the 4th round of the 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie Draft, played as a bullpen pitcher in the beginning of his debut, but began to stand out for his potential as he changed his position to a full-fledged starting pitcher in the 2019 season.
After winning 8 wins each in the 2019-2020 season, Yamamoto recorded an average ERA of 1.39 with 18 wins and 5 losses in 26 games in 2021 and 15 wins and 5 losses with an ERA of 1.68 in 26 games last year. He won the 4th pitcher crown. The ‘Sawamura Award’ given to the league’s best pitcher, as well as the regular season MVP title, all belonged to Yamamoto.
Yamamoto is aiming to advance to the major leagues through the ‘posting system’ after this season, and showed off his impressive appearance at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March of this year, proving his skills to work on the international stage, and attracting the eyes of many scouts. captivated And his good performance continues this year as well.
Yamamoto appeared in 13 games before the All-Star break and is active with a 1.74 ERA of 9-3. Currently, he is running first in the Central League’s most wins category, and his ERA is second only to Sasaki Rocky (Chiba Lotte Marines, 1.48), and his strikeouts (103) are ranked third. It is unclear if he will be able to continue his feat of winning 4 crowns, the Sawamura Award and MVP for 3 consecutive years, but it is clear that he is having a great season ahead of the big leagues.
While Yamamoto is about to enter the major leagues, the New York Mets are showing great interest in Japan’s “ace.” ‘SNY’ said, “An evaluator familiar with Yamamoto described him as ‘Chris Bassett with more’, like the resourceful Bassett, with a diverse pitching repertoire, but with a better fastball.” I expected him to be the starter or the third starter on a champion team,” he explained.
Prior to this season, the Mets had already signed a 5-year, 75 million dollar (approximately 94.9 billion won) contract with Senga Kodai, who was called Japan’s “ace.” Senga achieved great results in Japan, but he had doubts about control and command. However, he appeared in 17 games this year and is showing good form with 7 wins and 5 losses with an ERA of 3.20. However, Yamamoto is evaluated to be better than Senga.
‘SNY’ predicted, “Unlike Senga, Yamamoto doesn’t evaluate that he will be degraded to the bullpen. Because of that, he will probably make more money than the $75 million the Mets gave Senga last year.”
Mets general manager Billy Eppler has already visited Japan several times to see Yamamoto. ‘SNY’ said, “Mets general manager Billy Eppler has already visited Japan this year to see Yamamoto. Like Senga, Eppler’s connections and trust in me can help the Mets gain an advantage in free agency contracts. “he added.
What uniform will Yamamoto wear after this season? What is certain is that it seems clear that he is receiving a lot of attention even before entering the major leagues.