Yoshinobu Yamamoto injury is an unexpected, major speed bump

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was finally starting to meet expectations since coming over from Japan. All of that progress, culminated in his masterful start against the New York Yankees in the Bronx, which makes his recent injury so devastating.

Keeping all that in mind, our faith has been rewarded for those of us who took a deep breath as to his initial growing pains. Apart from one bad start, Yamamoto had been solid since his disastrous debut in Seoul.

Alas, last weekend slammed the brakes on the growing Yamamoto bandwagon.

First, the bad news. In an interview after his start on June 15, Yamamoto stated that he felt the triceps soreness while warming up, mentioned it to the coaching staff, and said the pain was not a concern until after the game had started.

In the best-case scenario, Yamamoto’s stint on the injured list would have been minimal. In the worst-case scenario, Yamamoto’s season would be over. Everything depended on what the MRI showed. The Dodgers announced on Sunday that Yamamoto had a strained rotator cuff, which is not great.

At this point, there is no official timeline to his return but don’t expect Yamamoto to come back until well after the All-Star break.

The unsung brilliance of Yamamoto

Considering how solid Yamamoto was before the injury, it is worth noting how much Yamamoto has accomplished in seven years of Japanese baseball.

When Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers, Eric provided a summary of Yamamoto’s accomplishments:

Yamamoto in each of the last three years won the Eiji Sawamura Award, given annually to the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball [NPB]. He posted a sub-2.00 ERA in each of those three seasons, including a sparkling 1.16 ERA in 171 innings for the Orix Buffaloes, with 176 strikeouts against only 28 walks.

Three Eiji Sawamura Awards for Yamamoto ties the record, along with Shigeru Sugishita (1951-52, 1954), Masaichi Kaneda (1956-58), Minoru Murayama (1959, 1965-66), and Masaki Saito (1989, 1995-96).

Yamamoto also won Pacific League MVP in each of the last three years as well.

Unlike MLB’s Cy Young award, NPB awards the Eiji Sawamura Award leaguewide rather than offering an award to the Central League and the Pacific League. Technically, NPB has had years where no one won the award, which feels odd for an American baseball fan.

Also, unlike MLB, NPB has actual selection criteria for the award. Historically, a pitcher had to reach the following thresholds to be considered for the award: 25 starts and 10 complete games, 15 wins and a .600 winning percentage, 200 innings, 150 strikeouts, and a 2.50 ERA or lower. Meeting all the criteria does not guarantee the award (ask Yu Darvish in 2008), but it is a rare thing to do in NPB currently.

Even Yamamoto only met five of the criteria (not enough innings, not enough complete games), and he arguably had his best season as a professional last year. Yamamoto's three consecutive Eiji Sawamura Awards are a feat matched by only one other player in NPB history (Masaichi Kaneda, 1956-58).

While NPB does split a Most Valuable Player award between its two leagues, Yamamoto has won three straight Pacific League MVP awards, a feat not done in the Pacific League since Ichiro Suzuki (1994-96).

When discussing Yamamoto’s NPB career, what has not been talked about is the pitching Triple Crown (leading the league in wins, leading the league in ERA, and leading the league in strikeouts).

In contrast, 28 pitchers in MLB have ever won the pitching Triple Crown, the most recently being in 2020 (Shane Bieber, Cleveland, 8 wins, 1.63 ERA, and 122 strikeouts). If one is looking for a full-season pitching Triple Crown, one has to go back to 2011 (Justin Verlander, Detroit, 24 wins, 2.40 ERA, and 250 strikeouts).

Three pitchers in MLB have ever won three pitching Triple Crowns during their careers: Grover Cleveland Alexander, Walter Johnson, and Sandy Koufax.

In comparison, Yoshinobu Yamamoto won three consecutive pitching Triple Crowns in NPB:

• 2021: 18-5, 1.39 ERA, 206 K
• 2022: 15-5, 1.68 ERA, 205 K
• 2023: 16-6, 1.21 ERA, 169 K

While Yamamoto’s durability in the transition to MLB remains an open question, especially when one considers that Yamamoto is 5’ 10”, one major league scout had the following to say to the Los Angeles Times:

“You always worry when they’re 5-10, but the difference is, he’s pretty compact,” the scout said. “If he was like [the 5-11, 170-pound] Tim Lincecum, where he was thinner-boned and skinnier, I would worry more about longevity. But to me, he’s like a better version of [5-10, 195-pound] Sonny Gray.”

Please do not call Yamamoto “Yoshi” or “Yossy”

Pedigree aside, while we wait for an update, we are here to do a public service.

One might be tempted to nickname Yamamoto “Yoshi” as a truncated version of his first name Yoshinobu. I can see the marketing opportunities now, especially if someone cuts Nintendo a large check and licenses some stuffed animals in the guise of Mario’s famous steed/companion wearing a Dodger hat.

Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

But the Dodgers must resist this urge.

Yamamoto has repeatedly and publicly said he does not want to be called Yoshi because another NPB player has that nickname and wants to be respectful of him. One might be tempted to use Yossy as that nickname was used in NPB, but Yamamoto has said that it was a little embarrassing to be called Yossy, noting that nickname was what he was called until junior high.

Incidentally enough, the answer for what to nickname Yamamoto may have come inadvertently from Freddie Freeman after he faced Yamamoto during his first live batting practice session in the spring:

“I went up to [Yamamoto’s translator] and said, ‘Please say incredible in Japanese,’” he said. “Because that was incredible.”

As I noted Mookie Betts did not know what an anime was last year (and probably still does not know based on the definition he was given), I find myself in the position to potentially help.

Technically, if one was being formal, I suppose one would say 信じられない (shinjirarenai) to say incredible. Then a potential solution hit me, as one could blame all the subbed anime that I have watched in my life.

I argue one could and should say something close that is easy to chant:

すごい (sugoi) (pronounced suh-goy), which means amazing, brilliant, great, terrible/awful (to emphasize a large amount of something). It’s easy to chant, it’s easy to say, and more importantly, sugoi is an accurate description of Yamamoto’s abilities at his peak.

[Author’s note: My Japanese is rudimentary at best, so if I am mistaken, please correct me and please know that I mean no disrespect to anyone involved.]

If anything, newcomer Teoscar Hernandez may have already rendered this issue moot by calling Yamamoto “Yama” during Dodgers’ photo day.