(Photo credit score: Yukihito Taguchi-Imagn Images)
Team Japan introduced Monday that Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto will lead its rotation in the course of the World Baseball Classic on March 5.
Yamamoto posted a 12-8 document with a 2.49 ERA in the course of the 2025 common season to earn third place within the National League Cy Young Award balloting, then he collected 5 postseason victories that included Games 2, 6 and seven within the World Series.
‘(Yamamoto) is Japan’s high pitcher,’ Team Japan supervisor Hirokazu Ibata advised reporters on Monday, in response to The Athletic. ‘There is little doubt about that.’
Team Japan will defend its WBC title with a loaded roster that features 15 gamers who helped earn the 2023 title. Yamamoto joins Dodgers teammate Shohei Ohtani on the high of the rotation. The Los Angeles Angels’ Yusei Kikuchi and ex-Baltimore Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano are additionally within the combine.
Yamamoto pitched twice within the 2023 WBC and posted a 1-0 document with a 2.45 ERA. Ohtani completed 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA and fanned the United States’ Mike Trout to gather the save within the championship sport.
‘Wearing a Japanese uniform as soon as once more fills me with a deep sense of satisfaction and accountability,’ Yamamoto mentioned in an announcement on Team Japan’s web site. ‘I’ve educated arduous this offseason to be in the absolute best situation for the WBC.’
Japan’s 15 place gamers function three at the moment on MLB 40-man rosters: Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami and Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto.
–Field Level Media