Chicago Cubs Listed Among Teams Interested in Japanese Phenom
As Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani is doing things the MLB has never seen before, clubs across the entire league are kicking themselves for missing out on signing him to their franchise.
There's another phenom in Japan who is turning heads and teams are flocking to see him pitch in person.
MLB Insider Jon Heyman reports that the Chicago Cubs are one of those teams who made the trip to see Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday.
The right hander impressed in the game, throwing seven scoreless innings. His pitch arsenal includes a fastball that reaches 97 mph, a cutter, curveball and splitter.
Yamamoto is putting together another dominant season for the Orix Buffaloes. He current has a record of 12-5 with a 1.42 ERA. This is coming off two consecutive seasons where he won the Eiji Sawamura Award, given out to the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball, two consecutive Pacific League MVP awards and two consecutive pitching Triple Crowns for having the most wins, strikeouts and lowest ERA in the same season.
There is no mistaking that he is a phenom and MLB teams would love to bring him over to the Unites States to play for their franchise. Along with the Cubs, nine other major league clubs were in attendance to see Yamamoto pitch in person.
The Buffaloes are expected to post the phenom pitcher as available for major league teams to make offers to sign him. The market for the 24-year-old will be massive and could create a bidding war to land the next great pitcher.
His availability is something to monitor throughout the offseason.
