“I’m expecting great things” - Dave Roberts reflects on Yoshinobu Yamamoto's undoubted potential and growing confidence 

Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto has performed well so far in the 2024 season. He has not recorded a loss since his tough debut game against the San Diego Padres during the Seoul Series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have high expectations with the 25-year-old moving forward in the season. Talking about the hopes they have for Yamamoto, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said:

“I just think that just to continue to gain confidence. For me, It’s to try to put any sort of expectation on him, I think it’s limiting. You don’t know how high the ceiling is going to be this year for him.”

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“So I think that if we can encourage him to just go out there and try to help us win and continue to gather information go out there and complete every fifth day fifth or sixth day. He’ll get better and then we’ll see. As we look back, I’m expecting great things though this year.”

In his first big league game against the Padres on March 21, Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave five runs in just one inning, the most runs a Dodgers starter allowed in their debut game.

Yamamoto’s bounce-back performance came on April 6 against the Chicago Cubs, when he recorded his first win. The five-time NPB All-Star pitched five scoreless innings striking out eight players while allowing only three hits.

Dave Roberts sees Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s confidence skyrocket since rough start

The Japanese ace faced the usual challenges a player comes across while transitioning to MLB from Nippon Professional Baseball League. With each start, Yamamoto became more familiar with the major league, gaining more confidence, which Roberts acknowledged as well:

“I think it’s something you can really feel is the confidence. I think the game is slowing down,” Roberts said. “All the stuff that he didn’t really, he wasn’t familiar with, the surroundings, everything. He’s just more comfortable with everything and just the confidence just as exuding when he takes the field.”

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In the Los Angeles Dodgers' recent 6-4 victory against the San Francisco Giants, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a decent performance. He struck out six over 5.2 innings while allowing four runs on five hits with two walks.