Cody Snavely
LOS ANGELES— During the 2024 Major League Baseball offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers, fresh off back-to-back first-round exits in the National League Division Series, needed to improve their starting rotation.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2023 rotation was a disappointment compared to previous seasons.
Not only was it the highest collective ERA that the team has had in the Andrew Friedman era, but it was also riddled with injuries that eventually ended the Dodgers’ season.
Dodgers starting pitchers had a 4.57 ERA in 2023, which ranked 20th in the majors. They were similarly in the bottom third in the majors in both ERA- and FanGraphs WAR. The Dodgers ranked in the top two and the top three in ERA every year in the previous six seasons.
However, the team’s first significant move to rectify that issue was signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a massive 12-year, $325 million contract, the largest contract for a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball history.
The contract shocked many around the league, especially given that Yamamoto had not even pitched a Major League pitch.
However, like many other teams competing for the right-hander’s services, the Dodgers saw the stats in Japan with the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
In his seven-year career in Japan, Yamamoto posted a 70-29 record with a 1.82 ERA, 9.3 K/9, and 0.935 WHIP. Still, even more impressively, the righty was on a streak of three straight Sawamura Awards (Cy Young Award equivalent) with a combined 1.42 ERA from 2021 to 2023.
All eyes were on Yamamoto when he made his stateside debut during Cactus League play for spring training, and with the Dodgers facing off their National League West rival, the San Diego Padres, in Seoul, Korea, it all came crashing down.
In his first Major League start, Yamamoto allowed five runs in one inning of work before being pulled, a disastrous start to his Major League career, with some fans labeling him as a bust.
Despite the bump in the road, Yamamoto would not let it derail his 2024 rookie season.
Overall, it would be an excellent season for Yamamoto, who would end the year with a 7-2 record with a 3.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 105 strikeouts in 90.0 innings pitched, but the righty did miss significant time with a shoulder injury.
Despite the injury, Yamamoto returned to the Dodgers’ starting rotation just in time for postseason baseball, as the calendar switched to October.
Yamamoto was instrumental in the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series run, collecting two wins in four appearances, a 3.86 ERA, and a 0.96 WHIP.
Entering the 2025 season, Yamamoto was set to take another step forward in his young career, and according to Dodgers insider David Vessegh, the 2025 season is going to be the year of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
While Yoshinobu was not the favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award, he certainly was a sexy pick in my eyes with +2000 odds via DraftKings, and so far this season, he has shown that.
Through his first five starts in March and April, Yamamoto is 3-1 with a 0.93 ERA and 0.86 WHIP while collecting thirty-eight strikeouts in twenty-nine innings pitched this season, headlined by his most recent start against the Texas Rangers, which saw the Japanese righty toss seven scoreless innings.
However, it’s not just been a dominant start since the start of the 2025 regular season; it has been a dominant stretch since the second start of his career until now.
After that rough start against the Padres in Korea until his last outing in Texas, Yamamoto is 10-2 with a 2.14 ERA and 141 strikeouts in twenty-two appearances. Then you factor in this season, where the righty ranks in the top five in ERA (0.93), innings pitched (29.0), strikeouts (38), WHIP (0.86), and BAA (.178).
Yamamoto has also seen an increase in multiple metrics across the board, including ranking in the 99th percentile in Pitching Run Value, 98th in Fastball Run Value, 99th in Off-speed Run Value, and 92nd in K% this season.
This season has also seen Yamamoto take a step forward in the following categories:
- K% (32.5%) (28.5% in 2024)
- BB% (6.5%) (6.0 % in 2024)
- FIP (2.03) (2.61 in 2024)
- Whiff% (33.2%) (27.0% in 2024)
- First Pitch Strike (35.2%) (28.5% in 2024)
- Barrel% (4.8%0 (8.3% in 2024)
- fWAR (1.0)
To make matters even worse for opposing hitters, not only is Yamamoto’s fastball an elite pitch in his arsenal, but his splitter has been even more menacing, with a .077 opposing batting average and a run value of four.
Yamamoto has also been aggressive against left-handed batters with a 35.7% K%, .137 BAA, and a 1.36 FIP; the Japanese righty has no issues getting either handedness out in a game.
All of this success has skyrocketed Yamamoto’s chances of winning the National League Cy Young Award, a feat that has never been done by a Japanese-born pitcher in Major League Baseball history.
This is something that intrigues Yamamoto after being asked about the award by Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Times in mid-April.
“I’ve heard no Japanese pitcher has won it yet, so I’m awfully interested in it,” Yamamoto said in Japanese. “I think that concentrating on each and every game and performing at my best is what will lead to a wonderful award like that, so I’d like to do my best every day.”
Yamamoto looks to continue his hot start to the 2025 season as the Dodgers return home to Chavez Ravine and welcome the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates, but will have to outpitch young righty Paul Skenes in an early-season marquee pitching match-up.
Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows & promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
