Nippon Professional Baseball Oryx Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a no-hitter. He was joined by a special guest.
As reported by Newsday’s Eric Boland on Tuesday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman traveled to ZOZO Marine Stadium to watch Yamamoto pitch on Sept. 9, when the Orix played the Chiba Lotte Marines.
He was accompanied by special assistant Minaya Oma and director of professional scouting Matt Daly.
It was an opportunity for the scouts to show the club’s decision makers the players they had observed.
Like Cashman, Yamamoto threw a no-hitter, allowing just two hits and a walk.
He became only the third pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball to throw back-to-back no-hitters, joining Eiji Sawamura (1936-37) and Tadashi Kameda (1940-41).
In 20 starts and 143 innings pitched this season, he has a 14-5 record with a 1.26 ERA.
He led the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA in both 2021 and 2022, winning the Sawamura Award, Best Nine, and Most Valuable Player awards.온라인바카
He also represented Japan in the 2019 Premier 12, 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and 2023 World Baseball Classic.
He has a four-seam fastball that averages 152 mph, a splitter that sits at 144 mph, a curveball and cutter, and, to a lesser extent, a screwball and slider.
He is a favorite to make it to the big leagues via the posting system after this season.