Mets Get Good News in Potential Pursuit of Yamamoto

A report from Japan noted that pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto would prefer to play for a MLB team that has Japanese players.

Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was posted on Monday, and nearly half of the league’s team have reportedly reached out to his representatives.

Yamamoto’s U.S.-based agent, Joel Wolfe, told the Kyoto News that he heard from 11 to 14 MLB teams in the 24 hours after the Orix Buffaloes posted their 25-year-old star. MLB teams have a 45-day window to attempt to sign him.

That contract won’t include the posting fee that the team that signs Yamamoto will have to pay the Buffaloes.

So, for teams in pursuit of Yamamoto they’re looking for any advantage they can get. It appears the New York Mets might just have one.

Yahoo! Japan reported on Wednesday that Yamamoto has a desire to play with other Japanese players in the Majors.

Well, that’s good news for the Mets, who have a Japanese pitcher in Kodai Senga who has already expressed a desire to recruit Yamamoto.

Senga played in the same league at Yamamoto with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He didn’t go through the posting process. He was an international free agent and signed a five-year, $75 million deal with the Mets last offseason.

Senga went 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA, finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting, seventh in NL Cy Young voting and earned an All-Star Game berth.

Back in August he told reporters he would be willing to help the Mets make their pitch.

“I have known him since he was 20 years old,” Senga said to the New York Post through an interpreter. “He’s been at the top level since he was very young, and I know he has a ton of talent. He is an amazing player.”

The belief among executives is that Yamamoto could net a deal worth more than $200 million.

At 25 years old, Yamamoto has a 70-29 record. He has a mid-90s fastball, but he is best known for an array of breaking pitches that can befuddle hitters. This season he had just a 1.21 ERA. He also went 16-6 and struck out 169 hitters in 164 innings.

Yamamoto just wrapped up play in the Japan Series, their country’s equivalent of the World Series. His final game saw him strike out 14 hitters in Game 6, which set a series record.

Yamamoto has thrown two no-hitters in his career. He’s also won gold medals for Japan in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.