Yoshinobu Yamamoto is in the midst of another All-Star season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but as of late, he’s taken his game to another level.
On May 12, Yamamoto turned in the worst start of his season, allowing five runs over 6.1 innings against the San Francisco Giants, which brought his ERA up to 3.60. But since that outing, the right-hander has completely locked in. Over his last eight starts, Yamamoto has posted a 1.48 ERA across 54.2 innings.
“When he’s on a roll, it’s just hard to put together innings, get hits,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s just a tactician out there when he’s right. The fastball is located where he wants it to both sides of the plate. Elevates when he needs to, and then the split is out of the same window as that fastball.
“So it’s virtually unhittable when he’s right.”
Yamamoto previously had a stretch of 45 consecutive hitters retired across two starts, which ended when Mookie Betts committed an error that broke up a perfect game with two outs in the eighth inning.
Yamamoto’s stretch of 45 consecutive batters retired finished as the second-longest streak in MLB history, and had it not been for the error, he would’ve tied Yusmeiro Petit’s record at 46.
Yamamoto also joined Greg Maddux as the only MLB pitchers over the last 50 years to retire their final 20 batters on three separate occasions, and he joined Jake Arrieta as the only pitchers to record 12 consecutive quality starts on the road while allowing 46 or fewer hits since earned runs became an official stat in 1913.
“He’s been great his whole Dodger career, his whole Japanese career,” Freddie Freeman said. “He’s just a great pitcher. He really is. He’s special. When you have that kind of velocity on your heater, splitter is at 93 or 94 (mph), and you can put the ball wherever you want in the strike zone, it doesn’t matter how hard he throws. Hitters can’t hit it.
“He’s a special pitcher, and I’m glad he’s on our side.”
Yamamoto’s command is at the forefront of his ability, but he also features a large arsenal of six different plus-pitches he can throw at any time. That’s led by his splitter, which has limited hitters to a .149 batting average and .263 slugging percentage against.
“It’s a game-changer,” Roberts said of the splitter after Yamamoto threw seven shutout innings against the San Diego Padres on the Fourth of July. “Obviously, the fastball command, it starts with that, which was very good tonight.
“But the split kind of coming out of that same window, he had those guys guessing and kind of off balance. A lot of funky swings. Then you bake in the curveball he had working, really flawless night.”
In total this season, Yamamoto has thrown 104.2 innings with a 2.49 ERA and 0.88 WHIP while striking out 100.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching in All-Star Game?
Roberts is undecided whether Yamamoto will pitch in the All-Star Game, and the decision could hinge on how much the ace has a desire to participate in the annual event.
“I think for me it’s a read-and-react. Let’s just get him through his start, and then we’ll see how he feels,” Roberts said. “And also, it’s kind of if he really wants it, and if it makes sense, I think we’ll have that conversation.”
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