Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 26, threw a 151-kilometer-per-hour fastball in his first live start, raising the possibility of his return.
“Yamamoto, who has been on the disabled list with a rotator cuff strain in his right shoulder, accompanied the Dodgers on their road trip to St. Louis and threw a full-scale practice for the first time since the injury,” Japanese media outlet Sporicianex reported on Monday.
Yamamoto is a standout ace in Nippon Professional Baseball with a 70-29 record and 1.82 ERA in 172 career games (897 innings). Last season, he went 16-6 with a 1.23 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 23 games (164 innings), becoming the first pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball history to win four major awards (wins, ERA, strikeouts, and winning percentage) in three consecutive years, while also winning the Sawamura Award and Pacific League MVP for the third consecutive year. After finishing as the runner-up in the Japan Series last year, Yamamoto made the jump to the major leagues with the Dodgers, signing a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers, surpassing Gerrit Cole (Yankees, 9 years, $324 million) as the largest contract for a pitcher in Major League Baseball history.
Yamamoto made his major league debut in the Seoul Series against the San Diego Padres at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, and got off to a disappointing start, allowing five runs on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts in one inning. After returning to the United States, however, he got back on track, going 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA in 14 games (74 innings).
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Yamamoto’s cruise was interrupted by injury. 토토사이트 순위 A right shoulder injury kept him out of the lineup until June 16 against Kansas City (2 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, no runs). But Yamamoto, who accompanied him to St. Louis, faced five batters and threw 17 pitches on the day. It was his first full-strength outing since his injury. “His fastball was up to 94 mph (151.3 km/h),” Sponichianek said. He threw a splitter, a curveball and adjusted his feel for his pitches.”
Yamamoto said, “I have a good plan. I’m calmly preparing for my comeback because I’m feeling good and ahead of schedule,” Yamamoto said. Yamamoto plans to continue pitching as he has been and aim to return to the major leagues in September.
Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers) were reunited with Lars Nutba (St. Louis), who led Japan to a sweep at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) last March. This is the first time they have met since Ohtani got married. “This is the first time I’ve seen Shohei since he got married, so I said, ‘Congratulations,’” Nuba said. And it was good to see Yamamoto throwing healthy,” he laughed.