Yoshinobu Yamamoto was among the five Los Angeles Dodgers players selected to the 2025 MLB All-Star Game, marking his first career selection to the Midsummer Classic.
Yamamoto was joined by Dodgers teammates Clayton Kershaw, Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman as those heading to the All-Star Game.
But now, the Dodgers will have one less representative as Yamamoto is being replaced by Andrew Abbott of the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers right-hander may still choose to attend the game and festivities, but he will not pitch in it.
Yamamoto is scheduled to start the weekend before the All-Star break against the San Francisco Giants, so he won’t be available to pitch in the Midsummer Classic on Tuesday, July 15.
The news coincidentally came after Yamamoto turned in the worst start of his career on Monday as he failed to escape the first inning. Yamamoto pitched just 0.2 innings while allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits with two walks and no strikeouts.
Even despite that outing, he’s been among the best pitchers in baseball this season with a 2.77 ERA in 97.1 innings while striking out 109 batters with a 1.07 WHIP.
Yamamoto has been on a bit of a cold stretch recently, however, so an extended break could be beneficial for him.
The All-Star Game selection was the first Yamamoto’s MLB career in just his second season since coming over from Japan. While pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball, Yamamoto earned five All-Star selections.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts advocated for the right-hander to be chosen as an All-Star prior to the final selection.
“Oh, yeah. He’s an All-Star. Started off ablaze, then he kind of simmered a little bit,” Roberts said last week. “The last two have been pretty good, certainly the one in Colorado was really good.
“So absolutely he’s one of the top whatever pitchers that need to be on an All-Star roster. For sure.”
Andrew Abbott replaced Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Abbott heads to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career after a very-deserving first half of the season. He’s gone 7-1 for the Reds with a 2.15 ERA, tossing 83.2 innings with a 1.09 WHIP.
The left-hander has struck out 23% of hitters faced while walking just 6.5% in what has been a breakout season.
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