MLB: Yoshi cooks

 

Yoshinobu Yamamato, the Dodgers' multi-million

dollar man, in his Spring Training debut Thurs.,

Feb. 29. (Photos of TV monitor)

By Ed Piper

I caught the replay of Yoshinobu Yamamoto's two-inning stint in his first Spring Training game for the Dodgers Thurs., Feb. 29, right after it happened--while the game against the Rangers was still on.

Yamamoto, whom the Dodgers brought over from Japan, was watched intently by his fellow countryman, Shohei Ohtani, from the top step of the dugout.

"Yoshi" looked good, though not spectacular, in my humble estimation of the 5'10" hurler, the three-time winner of the Japanese version of the Cy Young Award the past three seasons. He is only 25, which is pretty incredible considering his accomplishments in the Nippon Professional League in Japan already.

He induced a double-play ball. He gave up a hit. He struck out a batter on a wicked pitch. He showed good control. In the media, manager Dave Roberts raved at how Yamamoto did.

But it didn't light fireworks as you watched on TV, or strike you the way watching Ohtani, his Japanese counterpart and fellow multi-million-dollar player, hit a home run (which he did a few days ago, or pitch, which will have to wait until next year) would look.

I'll be going to Spring Training next week. Maybe I will see either Yamamoto or Ohtani play in the game we plan to see in Glendale, Arizona.

A funny incident occurred at the end of Yamamoto's two-inning stint. After a play that was the third out, Yoshi was asking for another ball. Ohtani, from the dugout, signaled to his countryman, "Come in, that's the final out of the inning."

You had a sense of the unfamiliarity and dislocation of a person who is in a foreign culture, doesn't speak the language, and momentarily forgets even basic things that have nothing to do with language. Of course, the incident could also be attributed to Yamamoto's focus on the things at hand, which were to throw with good location, have a positive start, don't make any dumb pitches.

An expectant Shohei Ohtani watches his fellow

countryman from the dugout.