{"id":542018,"date":"2026-03-15T13:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T13:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/542018\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T13:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T13:23:09","slug":"commentary-yoshinobu-yamamoto-might-not-wear-a-cape-but-he-has-super-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/542018\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary: Yoshinobu Yamamoto might not wear a cape, but he has super powers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Wait, what? That\u2019s me whenever I see a list of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball that doesn\u2019t include the Dodgers\u2019 Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> in the top three \u2014 or not until No. 7, like MLB Network\u2019s did<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe there are professional ball-watchers who want us to believe there are a handful of pitchers better than the Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 righty who\u2019s steadily filling the fingers on his hand with championship rings.<\/p>\n

Respectfully, the Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 Zack Wheeler and Atlanta Braves\u2019 Chris Sale are great. So are the Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 Christopher S\u00e1nchez and Boston Red Sox\u2019s Garrett Crochet.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019re not greater than Yamamoto.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying criminally underrating someone like Yamamoto should be prosecutable, I\u2019m just wondering why anyone would?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could have something to do with him not throwing 100 like some other guys,\u201d Dodgers pitcher Ben Casparius said. \u201cBut just in terms of pure pitching and what he\u2019s able to do and where he\u2019s able to locate certain pitches and how he\u2019s able to read the hitters?\u201d<\/p>\n

Elite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our eyes, I would for sure say Yamamoto is very underrated,\u201d catcher Dalton Rushing said. \u201cI think what goes into your role as a player is your willingness to win, whatever you\u2019ll do to win. I don\u2019t have to go back to the World Series and bring anything up, everyone watched those games, everyone saw what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe it was a power outage at some folks\u2019 homes during the World Series? Or a subtle form of protest against the Dodgers, champions of capitalism? Maybe Yamamoto\u2019s unassuming everyman act is just that good?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all marveled at Shohei Ohtani\u2019s Superman quick change, how he\u2019ll go from dynamite pitcher to fearsome hitter in a few bats of an eye. But the truly superheroic character on the Dodgers\u2019 roster is their 5-foot-10, 176-pound ace, Yamamoto.<\/p>\n

His Clark Kent-esque transformation, from unimposing nice guy \u2014 \u201cthe nicest guy in the entire world,\u201d Casparius said \u2014 to smirking menace whenever the day needs saving is the stuff of comic book legends.<\/p>\n

In last season\u2019s World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays that went the distance and beyond, Yamamoto earned MVP and three of the Dodgers\u2019 four wins.<\/p>\n

He had a 1.02 ERA. Got the Dodgers squared away with nine innings of one-run baseball in Game 2. Staved off elimination in Game 6, giving up just one run in six innings. And closed the deal in Game 7 when he pitched 2 \u2154 innings of scoreless relief in the Dodgers\u2019 5-4, 11-inning victory.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is all smiles as he\u2019s hugged by a teammate following the Game 7 win over the Blue Jays in the World Series.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Oh, and of course Yamamoto was warming in the bullpen when Freddie Freeman hit his walk-off home run to end the 18-inning Game 3 epic at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n

And Yamamoto showed up for Japan in the World Baseball Classic. He tossed 2 \u2154 scoreless innings in one pool-play start and was scheduled to start again against Venezuela on Saturday evening in Japan\u2019s first knockout round game.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of being a gamer and being a great competitor in big moments is the preparation,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cAnd when you prepare the right way, that eliminates a lot of doubt and fear. And that, for me, that\u2019s the core of who Yoshinobu is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hyper-competitive and exceptionally nimble, Yamamoto is also super strong \u2014 in body and mind.<\/p>\n

Bruce Wayne had Alfred Pennyworth; Yamamoto has Yada Sensei, personal trainer Osamu Yada, a 60-something Japanese judo therapist whose unique training regimen has helped turn his star pupil into a world-beater.<\/p>\n

So while the Pittsburgh Pirates\u2019 Paul Skenes and Detroit Tigers\u2019 Tarik Skubal are baseball\u2019s kings of the hill, if you had to pick one arm to decide the fate of the universe, whose would it be?<\/p>\n

Cue the Yoshinobu Yamamoto anthem.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably the best pitcher I\u2019ve ever seen live,\u201d Casparius said. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely the guy I\u2019m taking in a must-win game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said pitcher River Ryan: \u201cYoshi, he is just a natural freak athlete\u201d with a \u201croutine that\u2019s incredible to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it isn\u2019t merely the pitcher\u2019s willingness to go to bat for his team and country, all the metrics make his case, too.<\/p>\n

Last season, Yamamoto had the fourth-best ERA in the big leagues (2.49) and gave up two or fewer runs in 20 of his 30 starts. He was also tied for first in barrel rate (5.7%), fifth in strikeout rate (29.4%) and seventh in FIP (2.94).<\/p>\n

Pick a category, and it paints the picture almost as well as Yamamoto does corners.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not asking people to put some respect on Yamamoto\u2019s name, I\u2019m asking them to put mad respect on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say yes, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s fully appreciated for what he\u2019s done,\u201d third baseman Max Muncy said. \u201cNot just yet. He will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually even people around Clark Kent have to catch on: This guy might not walk around like he\u2019s a superhero, but he is one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Wait, what? That\u2019s me whenever I see a list of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[268473,64,63,5138,17084,1862,941,36826,591,147069,1463,268472,2365,10407,85,268474,7891,907,47542],"class_list":["post-542018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag--innings","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dodgers","tag-era","tag-game","tag-japan","tag-last-season","tag-mlb","tag-nice-guy","tag-no","tag-one-run-baseball","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-pitcher","tag-sports","tag-willingness","tag-world-series","tag-yamamoto","tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}