Star Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto has agreed to terms to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to ESPN sources and multiple reports, ending a frenzied free agency with the second-largest guarantee to a pitcher in baseball history.
The deal is worth $325 million for 12 years, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The 25-year-old Yamamoto, who has won three consecutive MVP awards and Sawamura Awards — Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of the Cy Young — drew significant interest from the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays.
Since transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation of his previous team, the Orix Buffaloes, in 2019, Yamamoto has dominated NPB like nobody in the league’s 74-year history. Over 820 1/3 innings, he has posted a 1.65 ERA, struck out nearly five times as many hitters as he walked and allowed one home run every 28 innings.
With a fastball that runs up to 99 mph, a devastating split-fingered fastball and a looping curveball that often buckles batters’ knees, he brings as good an arsenal as any pitcher who has come the Major League Baseball from Japan. At 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds, Yamamoto lacks the size of a typical frontline starter, but teams interested in him were not concerned, focusing more on the quality of stuff his body can generate.
