Watch: Yoshinobu Yamamoto picks young fan for ceremonial first pitch on bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium 

The Los Angeles Dodgers fanbase celebrated pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto's bobblehead night on Thursday ahead of the game against the Texas Rangers. Earlier this week, Yamamoto talked about a competition requiring fans to submit a video and an opportunity to throw the first pitch at his bobblehead night.

Interestingly, the young fan that the Japanese pitcher picked exuded a lot of similarity to the way Yamamoto himself pitches. The pre-delivery notion and stance were all the same, and even the pitch was an inside-coming pitch worth calling a chasing strikeout for.

After Yamamoto caught it, he was stunned as cheers rang out around the stadium. The young fun received a hug from the Japanese ace, followed by clicking photos together.

According to MLB, the young fan was a nine-year-old boy named Keita who won the contest and got the opportunity to throw the ceremonial first pitch from a major league mound. Perhaps one day he will have his sleeves up to throw one in an actual game.

Dodgers fans queue up to get their hands on Yoshinobu Yamamoto's bobblehead

On Thursday afternoon, Dodgers fans lined up outside the stadium gate at Chavez Ravine to get their Yoshinobu Yamamoto bobblehead. With the game set for 7:00 p.m., fans couldn't wait and made a long queue, waiting in line for several hours before the game at 3:00 p.m.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's performance validates all the praise he has been getting so far this season. The Dodgers' 12-year, $325 million rookie is living up to the pre-season hype, with him going 6-2 and posting a 3.00 ERA so far.

Initially slated to start on Thursday, the Dodgers pushed his start back to Saturday to give him a much-needed breather. In his last start against the New York Yankees, the Japanese ace threw a season-high 108 pitches for seven scoreless innings.

In place of Yamamoto, Michael Grove started the game against the Rangers on Thursday. He pitched 1.0 innings but allowed three hits and two runs. The game currently stands at 3-1 in favor of the Rangers going into the ninth inning.