Yesterday the Dodgers announced that pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki would start the two-game series against the Cubs in Tokyo. Yamamoto, from Okayama, and Sasaki, from Rikuzentakata are both from Japan and both came to the States as high-profile international free agents.
For the Cubs, this information shouldn’t be seen as a surprise. The Dodgers are pitching two of their Japanese-born pitchers as the Cubs are doing with Shota Imanaga.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
In his MLB debut season, Yamamoto pitched to the tune of a 3.00 ERA in 90 innings. His 129 ERA+, 4.77 K/BB, and 1.11 WHIP were excellent, especially considering it was his first season against major league hitting. He capped off his regular season with four appearances in the postseason where he went 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA. His season was affected by a June 16th tricep injury that landed him on the 60-day Injured list.
He then returned to the Dodgers rotation on September 10th against the Cubs before joining the Dodgers for their World Series run. Yamamoto’s pitches graded very well last year per Baseball Savant. His strikeout and walk rate are especially elite with him grading 85th and 81st percentile in those categories respectfully. The twenty-six-year-old controlled the strike zone very well for the Dodgers and as a result, the Cubs shouldn’t expect many freebies in Tokyo.
The Cubs may be able to hit him hard as his barrel rate ranked in the 37th percentile and his hard hit rate was 27th percentile. Yamamoto came over from Japan on a 12-year $325 million deal last offseason.
Roki Sasaki
As a 22-year-old phenom in Japan last year Sasaki was electrifying. His stats in NPB speak for themselves, a 2.35 ERA with .2 HR/9 and 129 K’s in 110 innings pitched. His world-famous fastball clocks in on average at over 100 MPH. In fact, in a 2023 World Baseball Classic game Sasaki topped 100 MPH on 26 of his 29 fastballs.
As crazy as it sounds that may not be his best pitch. His splitter, considered by some to be his best pitch, comes in at about 90 MPH. The key to his splitter is the low spin rate at which he throws it. It is said that his splitter spins less than any non-knuckleball in the game.
He has the kind of talent that cannot be taught, it’s clear he was born to throw a baseball.
While Sasaki is yet to make his Major League debut, he is already regarded as one of the game’s best pitchers. He is ranked as the number one prospect in baseball nearly anonymously. Fans all over the world are anxious to see if he can replicate his success from Japan overseas to MLB.
Last season Cub hitters ranked 17th in batting average, 10th in on-base percentage, and 13th in OPS. The Cubs will need to bring their A-game to hit against the uber-talented Dodgers pitching duo. The addition of Kyle Tucker, and the recent call-up of top prospect Matt Shaw should help.
The Cubs have their work cut out for them in their opening series once again with this being the second year in a row they start the season against the defending champs.
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