Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Japan reacts in the semfinals at the World Baseball Classic against Mexico at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, March 20, 2023. /CFP
Starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 25, of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB's) Orix Buffaloes, was posted as a free agent by the team on Monday, paving the way for a switch to Major League Baseball (MLB).
Yamamoto has been seen as the next superstar of Japan, with the potential to secure a $200-million contract from an MLB team. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox, a team must submit terms no later than January 4, 2024, if they want to sign the right-handed pitcher.
Yamamoto won the Eiji Sawamura Award, the NPB's equivalent to the MLB's Cy Young Award, in the previous two seasons. He pitched in 171 innings with a 16-6 record, a 1.21 earned run average (ERA) and 176 strikeouts. He was 1-0 and threw a 2.45 ERA plus 12 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings at the World Baseball Classic in March. Japan won the title after defeating USA 3-2 in the final.
The Athletic's Jim Bowden listed Yamamoto as one of his 40 MLB free agents for 2023-24, because Yamamoto "really knows how to pitch by adding and subtracting and he has special command in and out of the strike zone. He's a competitor with savvy, feel and poise. His fastball lives in the mid-to-high 90s with a wipeout split-finger and a plus curveball as part of his five-pitch mix. He moves the ball west to east and north to south extremely well, too."
Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Japan pitches in the semfinals at the World Baseball Classic against Mexico at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, March 20, 2023. /CFP
On Bowden's list, Yamamoto is only behind his compatriot Shohei Ohtani, who won his second unanimous American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season and is likely to sign the biggest deal in major league history.
No team will want to miss a talented pitcher like Yamamoto. Bowden named the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals, the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers as the teams that most often related to him.
As a reference for the salary number Yamamoto may get, Masahiro Tanaka inked a seven-year, $155 million deal with the Yankees in 2014; Kodai Senga agreed to a five-year, $75 million contract offered by the Mets last season and Masataka Yoshida signed a five-year, $90 million deal with the Red Sox.
Orix will get paid a posting fee if Yamamoto joins a major league team, according to MLB.com. For example, the team that signs him will pay Orix 20 percent of his first-year $25 million salary, 17.5 percent of his second-year $25 million, in addition to 15 percent of the total guaranteed money if it surpasses $50 million.