Dave Roberts Believes Dodgers Ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is Best Pitcher in NL
Former Major League Baseball outfielder Josh Reddick offered a simple question on X when Yoshinobu Yamamoto first signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers two years ago:
“How do you give a guy $325 million without ever throwing a pitch in MLB?”
Well, Mr. Reddick… it’s quite simple. When you’ve got some of the best stuff in the game, and helped your ballclub win the World Series in Year 1 of a lengthy contract, the deal essentially speaks for itself.
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Yamamoto continues to prove doubters wrong with a ridiculously strong start to the 2025 season. After blanking the Texas Rangers with seven scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts, Yamamoto is now 3-1 on the year with a 0.93 ERA. He’s allowed only 18 hits in 29.0 innings, striking out 38 batters for good measure.
Dave Roberts was specifically asked about Yamamoto’s progression as a starter in the big leagues. Going toe-to-toe with Jacob deGrom — and ultimately besting him — is certainly a feather in Yamamoto’s cap.
“There’s a lot of time, but I do think that right now, he’s the best pitcher in the National League,” Roberts said. “Now, (Paul) Skenes is pretty good too, so no disrespect. He elevated his game to another level. You could see that he was going against one of the game’s best in deGrom, and he obviously matched him pitch for pitch. You look at who you’re opposing. He’s one of the game’s best. I know Yoshi’s followed him for years, Cy Young winner. You want to kind of go toe to toe with him on the road. And he did that.”
Yamamoto has a six-pitch mix he utilizes. It’s heavily reliant upon a splitter, curveball, and four-seam fastball. He also will throw a cutter, sinker, and slider for good measure. As of April 21, Yamamoto ranks in the 99th percentile in Pitching Run Value and Offspeed Run Value.
Roberts is especially impressed with Yamamoto when he gets ahead of hitters.
“His execution has been unreal all year,” Roberts said. “He just has so many ways to get ahead of hitters. 2-0, he can dump in a curveball, he can dot a fastball away. He just has so many ways to get back into the count. Then once he’s up in the count, he’s got a lot of pitches to put them away. He has something for every situation and he’s been executing all of them. He’s one of the best pitchers in our game right now. I can’t really imagine anyone being any better than him right now.”
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Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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