Major League Baseball teams are bidding hard for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 25.
“More than 10 teams have entered the race to sign Yamamoto,” Japan’s Sportshochi reported on Monday (Jan. 19).
Yamamoto is currently the top ace in Japan. In 23 games this season, he is 16-5 with a 1.21 ERA in 169 innings pitched. He struck out 121 batters. He won the Pacific League Pitcher of the Year award for the third straight year and the Sawamura Award for the third straight year.
With these accomplishments, Yamamoto set his sights on the United States. With the permission of his team, the Orix, he used the posting system to try out for the major leagues. 캡틴토토 도메인
The previous record for an Asian pitcher’s first major league contract was a seven-year, $155 million contract for Masahiro Tanaka (35, Rakuten Golden Eagles), who signed with the New York Yankees in 2014.
Yamamoto is looking to surpass that record in 10 years. Locally, it’s believed he could break the $200 million mark.
“Negotiations are expected to begin on the 22nd, with posting applications being accepted early next week,” said Sportshochi, adding, “In free agency, starting pitchers Blake Snell and Aaron Nola are 30 years old. Yamamoto is young at 25,” he said, “and is expected to fetch more than $200 million, a record for a Japanese player.”
Competition is expected to be fierce. “The Yankees, who need to bolster their starting rotation, the deep-pocketed New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, the World Series champion Texas Rangers, the World Series-appearing Arizona Diamondbacks, the Detroit Tigers, and more than a dozen other teams are in the mix. “We’re excited to get started on the hunt for Yamamoto.