Saturday, February 17, 2024
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2024
Saturday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched live batting practice and definitely impressed. Entering this past offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers must revamp their starting rotation. Since starting pitchers require high prices and the 2023 free agent class didn’t have many high-performing starters, the Dodgers needed to be creative to upgrade their rotation.
Many Dodger fans wanted their favorite team to sign Blake Snell, the 2023 National League Cy Young Award winner. Scott Boras, super agent, represents Snell who seeks a multi-year lucrative contract. However, despite Cy Young Awards both in the American and National Leagues, Snell, the lefthander, hadn’t received any Cy Young Award votes in any other season. Snell has problems with both control and endurance, and the Dodgers don’t need either problem. At 31, Snell is due to have a significant arm injury.
The Dodgers comprehended the main reason they lost in the NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks was the starters’ failure. Yes, either Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman didn’t hit the way they were expected to, but no Dodger starter could get out of the third inning. At no point during the NLDS, the Dodgers had the lead.
Shortly after the Dodgers were knocked out of the postseason, they knew they wouldn’t have Clayton Kershaw until July at the earliest. In early November, Kershaw underwent his first significant arm surgery during his professional career. Since 2011, Kershaw has been the Dodger ace.
Clearly, the Dodgers needed to go in a different direction with their starting rotation. While the Dodgers have young promising starters in Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan, they understood they couldn’t rely on these young starters with their World Series aspirations. The Dodgers needed veteran talented starters to guide their youngsters.
Just after the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani, who figures to join the Dodger 2025 starting rotation, they traded a promising right-handed starter Ryan Pepiot and an outfield prospect Johnny DeLuca to the Tampa Bay Rays for right-handed Tyler Glasnow.
Glasnow, 30, has the pitch repertoire to be dominant but has been plagued by injuries. Most of his injuries were related to a misdiagnosed torn UCL that required a Tommy John surgery. This spring training Glasnow has impressed Dave Roberts and his teammates with his power pitching. He has a goal of pitching more than 120 innings in the 2024 season, for the first time in his major league career. If Glasnow can stay healthy, he can be an ace.
About a week after Glasnow’s trade and contract extension, the Dodgers signed Yamamoto to a record-setting contract for any pitcher. At 25, Yamamoto accomplished everything a pitcher can in Japan. Looking at Yamamoto, no one would guess he was a major league starter. On his driver’s license, he is listed 5’8”. He has a small frame. Despite his small size, Yamamoto throws 100 miles per hour. His splitter and cutter are unhittable. On Saturday, Yamamoto faced Betts and Freeman, who looked foolish.
Yamamoto has different training techniques. He doesn’t lift weights since he doesn’t want to bulk up. Since he experienced elbow pain when he was 18, Yamamoto started throwing a javelin. Dodger starters begin to notice Yamamoto’s training methods and ask questions.
Everybody expects Yamamoto and Glasnow to start the two games against the San Diego Padres in South Korea.
