Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his spring training debut; Shohei Ohtani’s hitting form still in progress

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Japanese pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, made his spring training debut today, starting against the Los Angeles Angels. He pitched 1.2 innings, striking out 3 but conceding 2 runs, with his overall pitch speed still below last year’s standard.

Yamamoto threw 30 pitches (22 strikes) in total, facing 9 batters, striking out 3 with no walks or hit batters, allowing 3 hits and 2 runs (1 earned). In the first inning, he retired the Angels in order, including strikeouts of Zach Neto and Yoan Moncada.

However, at the start of the bottom of the second inning, Yamamoto threw a 93.6 mph fastball near the heart of the plate, which Jorge Soler hit for a double. Then, an error by Teoscar Hernández allowed the Angels to score a run. After striking out Josh Lowe, Yamamoto gave up consecutive hits to Logan O'Hoppe and Christian Moore, allowing another run. He was pulled from the game after recording the second out and throwing 30 pitches.

In total, Yamamoto threw 6 four-seam fastballs and 5 sinkers today. His four-seam fastball averaged 93.2 mph, which is 2.2 mph slower than last year, with a top speed of only 94.9 mph, below his previous season’s average. The sinker averaged 93.9 mph, also 0.9 mph slower than last year.

Today, Yamamoto threw 8 split-finger fastballs, averaging 2.5 mph slower than last year. Only 2 of these pitches successfully induced swings, both resulting in misses; the other 6 pitches were not swung at, with only 1 being a strike. Overall, he threw 30 pitches, with batters swinging 17 times, missing 6; among the 13 pitches not swung at, 5 were strikes.

Meanwhile, teammate Shohei Ohtani appeared as the designated hitter in today’s game, going 1-for-3 with one strikeout, indicating his hitting form still seems to be adjusting.

In the first inning, he hit a ground ball single down the third base line off right-hander José Soriano. Then, in the top of the second inning with a runner on second and one out, he grounded out to second base against lefty Mitch Farris. Later in the same inning, he struck out against right-hander Camden Minacci.

Both balls Ohtani put in play today were off-speed pitches and resulted in slow infield grounders with exit velocities under 73 mph; one of these softly bounced multiple times and became a hit.

Three Angels pitchers threw a total of 14 pitches to Ohtani today, with 5 pitches in the strike zone. Of those, he didn’t swing at 2, and among the 3 swings, he missed once and fouled off twice. Of the 9 balls outside the strike zone, he swung 5 times, producing 2 ground outs, 1 foul ball, and 2 misses, while not swinging at 4 pitches. Compared to last year’s full season where he chased only 26% of balls out of the zone, his overall form still appears to be in the process of adjustment.