Dodgers’ Yamamoto pitching against the Texas Rangers on the 29th of last month, his first appearance in an exhibition game. The right hand grip inside the glove is visible on the broadcast camera. It was Yamamoto’s second exhibition game appearance against the Chicago White Sox on the 7th. Yamamoto appears to have adjusted the angle of his glove to hide his grip.
LA Dodgers Yoshinobu Yamamoto (26) was hit in his second MLB (American Professional Baseball) exhibition game. He looked completely different from his powerful appearance a week ago when he first took the mound. Coincidentally, he collapsed after a report came out saying, “He can read what kind of ball he will throw.”
Yamamoto appeared as a starting pitcher in the game against the Chicago White Sox held at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona on the 7th, giving up 6 hits and 3 walks and allowing 5 runs in 3 innings. He struck out four. The Dodgers came from behind to win 12-9, recording 10 wins and 3 losses in the exhibition game.
In Yamamoto’s first appearance, on the 29th of last month, against the Texas Rangers, he pitched two scoreless innings (one hit, three strikeouts). Coming from the Japanese league, he fought against last year’s World Series champion as the star of the largest contract for a pitcher in Major League history (12 years, $325 million, approximately 432.2 billion won).
The White Sox, whom Yamamoto met on the 7th, performed poorly in the regular league last year with 61 wins and 101 losses, and are at the bottom with 4 wins and 9 losses in this exhibition game. However, Yamamoto faltered, giving up 3 runs in the bottom of the first inning and 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. The average ERA in two games worsened from 0.00 to 9.00 (5 runs allowed in 5 innings).
Prior to this game, Yamamoto’s ‘pitching habits’ attracted attention. Rick Monday, a former Dodgers player and broadcast commentator, broadcast Yamamoto’s first appearance on cable TV ‘Sportsnet LA’ and said, “I could have predicted that the ball he threw earlier was a splitter. Why? “I could see (the grip) in his glove,” he said. In fact, the broadcast camera continued to capture how Yamamoto was holding the ball with his right hand inside his glove while he was in the set position.
Major League Baseball prohibits the use of electronic devices to communicate to the batter what pitch the pitcher is about to throw. However, it is not uncommon for the runner on second base to read signs behind the pitcher and secretly inform the batter.
Yamamoto, who was pointed out by the team for ‘exposing the grip’ after his first appearance, said, “I’m not too worried. It was the same when he played in Japan. He responded that it was no big deal, saying, “Once the season starts, he will make adjustments.”
Yamamoto tried to hide the grip inside his gloves in the second game. He still had his hands visible at times. On this day, when he threw 58 balls (32 strikes), another problem was revealed. His splitter, which led to his four strikeouts, was sharp, but he had trouble controlling his curveball. Four of the six hits were infield hits, and there were some unlucky aspects, such as being hit by a batted ball. Yamamoto said, “There were a lot of balls, and the content was not good. “He tested a few things and the good ones are positive,” he said.
After appearing in one more exhibition game, Yamamoto is scheduled to make his big league debut by appearing on the mound in the official opening two-game series of the 2024 Major League Baseball against the San Diego Padres at Gocheok Dome in Seoul on the 20th and 21st.
2024-03-07 07:04:00
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