Categories: Rumors

Phillies among teams who have scouted top Japanese pitcher

The Philadelphia Phillies were one of “at least 10 teams” that scouted RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s most recent start, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

Yamamoto pitches for the Orix Buffaloes, a Japanese team that plays in Nippon Professional Baseball. Notable alumni from the franchise — who once went by the name BlueWave — include Ichiro Suzuki, Chan Ho Park, So Taguchi, Hideo Nomo and even eventual Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

The 25-year-old righty has gone 13-5 with a 1.34 ERA, 135 strikeouts and a 0.896 WHIP across 134 innings this season. Yamamoto has one complete game in 19 starts this season, but has been a horse for his Japanese team, pitching 10 complete games and over 380 innings between 2021 and 2022.

Yamamoto is expected to be posted this offseason by the Buffaloes, which would allow MLB teams to bid on his services, while also sending back a kicker to his Japanese club.

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In addition to the Phillies, Heyman hears that the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks also scouted Yamamoto in his start for the Buffaloes Wednesday.

While the Phillies acquired players like Park and Taguchi after they were established in the majors, they’ve never signed a star Japanese player coming to play in MLB for the first time. It’s unclear how interested they are in Yamamoto, but at the very least, they appear to be doing due diligence on the righty, who has a four-seam fastball, splitter, cutter and curveball in his arsenal

Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors rated Yamamoto as the No. 2 overall free agent this upcoming offseason, trailing only two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. That puts him ahead of a slew of accomplished MLB arms, including Aaron Nola.