A Major Piece of News Regarding Top Free Agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto

While Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto has yet to sign with a Major League team this offseason, we did get a major clue as to his line of thinking on Wednesday.

Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the most coveted player on the free agent market this offseason not named Shohei Ohtani.

And while he hasn't signed yet, we did get a major piece of information with regards to his thinking on Wednesday.

Per Boston Sports Gordo on social media:

Yoshinobu Yamamoto wants to play with other Japanese players, his agent told the Japanese media. He plans to make his decision after the Winter Meetings.

If you're wondering who the teams with Japanese players currently are, we have you covered:

1) San Diego Padres (Yu Darvish)

2) Chicago Cubs (Seiya Suzuki)

3) Boston Red Sox (Masataka Yoshida)

4) New York Mets (Kodai Senga)

5) Toronto Blue Jays (Yusei Kikuchi)

This news is good for big-market teams like the Red Sox, Cubs and Mets, and bad for a team like the Yankees.

Also of note, Ohtani, Shintaro Fujinami and Kenta Maeda are currently free agents and wherever they sign could impact Yamamoto as well. Although it's hard to imagine a team having enough money for both Ohtani and him.

If you're looking for a dark horse, the Seattle Mariners don't have any Japanese players currently but have had great success with Japanese players in the past including Ichiro Suzuki, Kenji Johjima, Kazahiro Sasaki and others. Perhaps those connections could lead to a surprise signing.

An MLBTradeRumors article from February of 2023 had more on Yamamoto:

Scouts to whom Sherman spoke raved about Yamamoto’s potential in the big leagues, touting a heater that sits mid-90s and reaches the upper-90s, a “plus-plus” (i.e. 70-grade) splitter, a “world class” curveball, a quick delivery to the plate and the athleticism to field his position well. One evaluator speaking to Sherman tabbed him a “full [scouting] grade” (on the 20-80 scale) ahead of right-hander Kodai Senga, who signed a five-year, $75MM deal with the Mets this offseason.

He went 17-6 this year in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, pitching to a miniscule 1.16 ERA. He struck out 176 batters in 171.0 innings. He was pitching for the Orix Buffaloes, which is the same organization that Ichiro Suzuki played for.

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