Yamamoto Yoshinobu (Orix Buffaloes) is the ace representing Japanese professional baseball, following Lee Jung-hoo (Kium Heroes) and Imanaga Shota (Yokohama DeNA BayStars), who are scheduled to advance to the Major League after this season. I’m ready to go to the big leagues.
Yamamoto started the 2023 Japanese professional baseball home game against the Rakuten Golden Eagles at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 16th (Korea Standard Time) and pitched 104 pitches in seven innings with eight hits, two walks, three strikeouts, and three runs (two earned runs), but lost without help from the batters.
In a game against the Chiba Lotte Marines on the 9th, Yamamoto achieved his 100th “no-hit no-run” in Japanese professional baseball history by recording 102 pitches, eight strikeouts and two walks (1 walk) in nine innings. “No Hit No Run” was even more brilliant because it was written in front of scouts from 11 major league teams, including Brian Cashman, head of the New York Yankees at the time.
As he recorded no-hitter in his previous appearance, the factor that drew the most attention in today’s appearance was whether he could record “no-hitter” in two consecutive games. Last year, “165km monster” Rocky Sasaki (Chiba Lotte) achieved a perfect game against Orix, and in his next appearance, he ran toward “failing” in two consecutive games with a perfect score of eight innings.
Contrary to expectations, Yamamoto struggled quite a bit against Rakuten that day. Yamamoto continued his no-hit streak by turning Rakuten’s top batting lineup into a three-way strike in the first inning. However, he gave up a hit to leadoff hitter Hideto Asamura in the second inning, breaking his no-hit record that had been ongoing since the game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on the 2nd after 13 innings. Yamamoto, who was shaken after giving up a walk, finished the inning without giving up a run.
The first run was in the 3rd inning. Yamamoto faced the second run crisis of the day when he got hits from Hiroto Kobukata and Hiroaki Shimauchi in the third inning. And he allowed a timely hit to Asamura, who had broken his no-hit streak, and allowed consecutive hits to the follow-up hitter, Takero Okajima, allowing the game to go back to 1-2.
Yamamoto finished the 4th inning without allowing a run, but gave up another run in the 5th inning when he was hit by a hit and an error. Still, Yamamoto did his part. He prevented a run crisis in the 6th inning with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd base, and finished the day’s pitching by going on the mound in the 7th inning and holding Rakuten’s batting line to no runs.
Despite a quality start+ (less than 3 earned runs in 7 innings), he did not receive support from the batting line and failed to achieve 15 wins for 3 consecutive years for the first time in 44 years since Yamada Hisashi from 1976 to 1979, but Yamamoto’s true value was shown on this day as well. He allowed only 3 runs despite pitching allowing 9 hits and 2 walks. In front of 9 major league teams and over 20 scouts, he demonstrated how to play on days when conditions are not good.
First of all, Yamamoto, who completed a ‘showcase’ for major league clubs by achieving ‘no hit and no run’ in his previous appearance, has now completed the final preparations to advance to the big league. Japan’s ‘Sports Hochi’ reported on the 16th, “Yoshinobu Yamamoto selected Joel Wolff of the large American agent ‘Wasserman’ as his negotiating agent.” This is the third contract since Lee Jung-hoo, who is aiming to advance to the big league through the posting system, signed a contract with Scott Boras, who is called the ‘Devil’s Agent’, and Imanaga signed a contract with ‘Octagon’.
Joel Wolff is one of the most famous agents in the Major League and also has many Japanese players. He also has excellent negotiation skills. Prior to last season, Wolf signed a 5-year, $70 million (approximately KRW 93.1 billion) contract with Suzuki and the Cubs, and prior to this season, a 6-year, $108 million (approximately KRW 143.7 billion) extension with Darvish, who has 196 wins in total between the U.S. and Japan, and San Diego. A contract was reached. And he is the one who brought about a 5-year contract worth $75 million (approximately 99.8 billion won) between Senga and the Mets, who were aiming to enter the major leagues.
Yamamoto has already expressed his intention to advance to the major leagues in public for a long time. Orix did not publicly approve or support Yamamoto’s posting, but it is highly likely that it will support Yamamoto’s challenge, just as it approved Masataka Yoshida’s posting last year. And he completed all preparations to enter the major leagues by completing the appointment of an agent. Now all he has to do is finish the rest of the season well.
BY: 먹튀검증디비