Dodgers' All-Star on Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 'Best Pitcher in the World'

In a move that shouldn't shock anyone around the baseball world, Yoshinobu Yamamoto once again dazzled the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Friday evening's installation of Yamamoto's brilliance featured six scoreless innings, six strikeouts, and just one hit. Of his 91 pitches, batters swung at 46 of them and made contact just 29 times.

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What Yamamoto's doing isn't normal. In his 40 innings pitched, he has allowed just four runs, and 13 walks, while throwing 49 strikeouts.

His ERA this season is a MLB-leading 0.90 with a 4-2 record over seven starts.

For these reasons and more, All-Star catcher Will Smith gave a glowing review on the man on a mission to become the first Japanese-born Cy Young award winner and how he has been so dominant.

“Just executing all of his pitches. Just making it really hard on the hitters,” Smith said. “Right now, he’s pitching like the best pitcher in the world. We’re just fortunate to have him.”

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During Yamamoto's last start he also caught the attention of Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips.

Phillips knows a thing or two about pitching given his 2.23 ERA while donning a Dodgers uniform. The right-hander spoke on the recent one-hitter from his team's ace.

“He dominated today,” Phillips said. “And I feel like it wasn’t even the best version of Yama. Which is crazy. The guy, when you talk about routine and work ethic and the talent, this guy’s one of the best in the game, for sure. It’s fun to watch.”

After the game, Yamamoto also spoke on how he is getting closer to his most prolific performances.

“I’ve been able to perform at a very high level,” Yamamoto said. “I think it’s really close to my best times in Japan.”

Yamamoto played seven Nippon Professional Baseball seasons with a career ERA of 1.82. This span included 922 strikeouts to just 206 walks.

These numbers helped him earn the largest MLB contract for a pitcher last offseason, inking a $325 million deal. His year-end 3.00 ERA and availability to be dominant through October was worth every penny, but as the 26-year-old gets closer to his peak form, the next 11 years of his lucrative contract will be that much more enjoyable.

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