Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto is Throwing a New (Old) Pitch
After a disastrous debut against the San Diego Padres in South Korea, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto has settled into his role. He ended April with a sub-3.00 earned run average; it’s down to 2.79 after an outstanding eight-inning start Tuesday against the Marlins.
In his May 1 start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Yamamoto displayed his comfort level when catcher Austin Barnes jogged out to the mound without an interpreter and Yamamoto promptly broke out a slider — a pitch that he had thrown early in his career in Japan, but never with the Dodgers.
“I think it’s an interesting pitch for him,” Barnes told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
He only threw the pitch three times, all to right-handed batters, and got positive results each time. On one, he got Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to ground out and he got Christian Walker to strike out on another.
Yamamoto broke out the slider again during his last start against the Miami Marlins, throwing it six times. Only two of them landed in the strike zone, but he got four swings and one whiff.
Yamamoto’s slider is a harder slider at 86 mph that has just 7.4 inches of horizontal movement and 4.4 inches of drop. The pitch graded out with just a 4.06 PLV at Pitcher List, where the league average is 5.26. It’s a below-average pitch, and Yamamoto agrees.
The pitcher confirmed with Ardaya that he threw a couple of sliders in his final inning through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda, though he remarked the pitch was “nothing special.”
Manager Dave Roberts didn’t want to set expectations for the rookie and has let him work through his adjustment period and so far, so good.
“He’s throwing the baseball exceptionally,” Roberts said.
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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