Yoshinobu Yamamoto continued his historic start to the 2025 season on Friday when he threw seven scoreless innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 3-0 win over the Texas Rangers.
The right-hander improved to 3-1 with a minuscule 0.93 ERA, 2.02 FIP, 0.86 WHIP and 11.8 strikeouts per nine in 29 innings pitched this season (three starts).
Yamamoto is the only pitcher in the modern era to record at least 35 strikeouts while yielding fewer than 20 hits and five runs over his first five starts.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes Yamamoto is the best pitcher in the National League at the moment, edging Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“He’s pitching like it,” Roberts said when asked if Yamamoto had ascended to the ace level this season. “I feel we’ve got a lot of aces, and got a guy who’s gonna come off (the Injured List) that won two Cy Youngs (Blake Snell).
“There’s a lot of time, but I do think that right now, he’s the best pitcher in the National League. Now, (Paul) Skenes is pretty good too, so no disrespect.”
Yamamoto signed the largest contract for a pitcher in MLB history last offseason, and the Dodgers always envisioned he could become their best starter someday.
Yamamoto had a solid, albeit injury-shortened rookie season in 2024, but showed flashes of his potential and talent when healthy.
The 26-year-old was largely overlooked entering the 2025 season, with Skenes receiving most of the picks for NL Cy Young honors.
However, if Yamamoto keeps pitching at his current pace, he will be the odds-on favorite to win the award at the end of the year. Doing so would make Yamamoto the first Japanese-born pitcher to ever win a Cy Young Award
Yoshinobu Yamamoto part of wildfire relief efforts
Yamamoto joined forces with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF), Roki Sasaki and Japanese musician and composer YOSHIKI to support wildfire relief efforts in both the United States and Japan.
Yamamoto, Sasaki and YOSHIKI autographed the original sheet music for both national anthems that were performed by the Japanese artist prior to the Tokyo Series opener last month.
Each music score has been placed in an elegant frame and will be auctioned separately by LADF through April 28 to benefit those affected by the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles and Ofunato, Japan.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
