Yoshinobu Yamamoto Hints at 'Secret' Plan Agreed to With Dodgers

While the Los Angeles Dodgers still have one month of Spring Training remaining, players have started to leave camp in order to join their respective countries to begin preparing for the World Baseball Classic.

Shohei Ohtani played in the Dodgers' first Cactus League game of the year and went through a workout the following moring before departing for Japan. Now it's Yoshinobu Yamamoto who is returning home.

Yamamoto's next time pitching is expected to be March 6 for Samurai Japan in their first WBC game. He didn't fully divulge his schedule or plan for the World Baseball Classic, but Yamamoto and the Dodgers did come to terms on some parameters, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group.

“That’s a secret,” Yamamoto joked when asked how long he might pitch against Taiwan.

But he did acknowledge that he and the Dodgers “did discuss about a limit” for how much of a workload he will take on for Team Japan.

“For me, it’s just more of the well-wishing, good luck,” Roberts said of his message to the players leaving for the WBC. “Yoshinobu knows when he’s going to pitch for Team Japan. We’re aligned, as far as our organization, our pitching guys. He’s comfortable with it.”

Yamamoto threw 52 pitches over three innings and allowed three runs to the San Francisco Giants in the Dodgers' loss on Friday. That came one week after throwing 30 pitches in 1.2 innings against the Los Angeles Angels.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had initially indicated the team's Cactus League opener was going to be Yamamoto's lone outing before leaving camp. So confusion was abound when Roberts wished Yamamoto well upon taking him out of the game at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

"When I was coming out of the game, Doc came to me and said, ‘Good luck,’ for the WBC. Actually, I have one game to pitch,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's history in WBC

When Yamamoto was on the Samurai Japan roster that won the gold medal in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he pitched four shutout innings with eight strikeouts against Team Australia in his first start.

Yamamoto then pitched in relief of Roki Sasaki against Team Mexico and got through three scoreless innings before running into some trouble. Yamamto allowed Mexico to take the lead during his appearance but avoided the loss thanks to a walk-off hit from Munetaka Murakami.

Yamamoto finished the World Baseball Classic with a 2.45 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 12 strikeouts over 7.1 innings pitched in two games (one start). It can be presumed the right-hander, Dodgers and Team Japan agreed to ruling out bullpen appearances this time around.

Team Japan is in Pool C for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, which will play first-round games at the Tokyo Dome from March 5-10 locally. Also in Pool C are Australia, Chinese Taipei and Korea.