Yoshinobu Yamamoto Details How Shohei Ohtani Recruited Him to Dodgers

Starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was officially introduced as a member of the Dodgers on Wednesday in front of media at Dodger Stadium. His arrival with the team has been highly anticipated, and fans finally got to see him wearing the famous Dodgers jersey.

During the team’s free agency meeting with Yamamoto, newly signed two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani was present. His presence meant a lot to Yamamoto, and he even started recruiting Yamamoto to sign with Los Angeles.

During an appearance on MLB Network after the press conference, Yamamoto explained how Ohtani helped recruit him to the Dodgers.

“He was never really pushy about like, ‘Hey come to the Dodgers.’ He mentioned over and over again, ‘Wherever you end up, I’m going to support you, I’m going to be rooting you on.'”

Ohtani didn’t push Yamamoto, and he wanted the pitcher to make the decision for himself. It likely helped that Ohtani wasn’t pushy, and Yamamoto felt comfortable in making his decision.

“But at the same time, he was really open and receptive to any questions that I may have had in this whole entire process so that really meant a lot.”

Being new to the United States, it will likely be nice for Yamamoto to have someone who speaks Japanese along with him on the team. They played together with Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic and now will be trying to help the Dodgers win multiple World Series titles.

Yamamoto now headlines the Dodgers’ starting rotation, but he seems up to the challenge ahead of him. He reportedly wanted to pitch on the biggest stage, and now will get to do just that with the Dodgers.

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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