When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the richest contract for a pitcher in MLB history, there were questions about how quickly he would be able to adjust to a new schedule.
The right-hander pitched once per week during his time with the Orix Buffaloes in Nippon Professional Baseball, whereas most MLB starters take the mound every four or five days.
So far during his Dodgers career, Yamamoto has only pitched once per week due a combination of the team’s depth and strategic planning. Manager Dave Roberts envisions that continuing for the foreseeable future.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Roberts answered when asked if he intends to move Yamamoto to a more traditional schedule. “But having the depth of guys in the ‘pen or dropping a starter in if we need to, off days, I think we can sustain this for quite some time.
“But we’ll continue to monitor how Yoshinobu’s stuff plays in his start, how he recovers and all that stuff.”
Yamamoto struggled in his MLB debut against the San Diego Padres in South Korea but at times has looked like the ace many expect him to be.
The 25-year-old put together a stretch of 10 consecutive scoreless innings, allowing just five hits and collecting 13 strikeouts against two walks during that span. Yamamoto then struggled some in his second time facing the Padres and now takes the mound Friday night, again keeping with pitching once a week.
On the season, Yamamoto is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA, 2.83 FIP, 1.06 WHIP and 11.8 strikeouts per nine in 16 innings of work through four starts.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto not having difficulty with MLB adjustment
In addition to the different pitching schedules between MLB and NPB, Yamamoto has to get used to throwing a slightly larger baseball, which gave him trouble at times during Spring Training.
Since then, Yamamoto has not found it difficult adjusting to the Majors. “To be honest, I didn’t really have many issues adjusting, because I’ve been saying this, but I get all the support from everybody, players and organization,” he said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonada.
“So that helped me a lot.”
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