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Yoshinobu Yamamoto Made Professional Hitter Stumble Like Baby Giraffe During Nasty MLB Debut

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his highly-anticipated Major League Baseball debut at Spring Training on Wednesday. The 25-year-old Japanese phenom showed why the Los Angeles Dodgers paid him $325 million during the offseason. He allowed just one hit and struck out three batters in two innings of work.

Yamamoto said that he was “relieved” after throwing 19 pitches with 16 strikes during his first start in the United States. Shohei Ohtani, with a smile, said that his performance was just “so-so.”

The tape would disagree!

Yamamoto’s fastball topped out at 96 mph, his disgusting looping curveball bottomed out at 74 mph, and his signature pitch, a splitter, was as filthy as ever. A three-pitch sequence in that order left 2022 AL Silver Slugger Award-winner Nathaniel Lowe completely baffled.

The rookie right-hander’s stuff was so dirty that it made professional hitters look ridiculous. Leody Taveras, who eventually struck out swinging, was so frozen by the second pitch of the at-bat that he stumbled around like a baby giraffe.

Yamamoto’s dominant day finished with a hilarious moment. Ohtani had to remind him to come out of the game after getting Taveras for the third out of his second inning.

The seventh-year veteran had some simple words for his new teammate.

You know, we play three outs here in the major leagues.

— Shohei Ohtani

Although it is a small sample size, Yamamoto is already living up to the hype. He is going to be a dominant force at the top of the Dodgers’ rotation and Wednesday’s start indicated that MLB hitters are going to struggle figuring him out. Certainly during the early season.

It’s going to be pretty awesome if Yoshinobu Yamamoto continues to make them dance like he did with Taveras. All eyes will be on his every start, but he has his good friend Ohtani to help him deal with some of the spotlight and attention!