Is Yoshinobu Yamamoto the most decorated active baseball player?
Yoshinobu Yamamoto arrived at the Majors the past winter with a huge contract after turning himself into the most dominant starting pitcher in the NPB. The expectation was a long-term impact with the Dodgers, but Yamamoto made an impact immediately, being a key part of the team’s winning run.
Yamamoto played for the Orix Buffaloes at the NPB from 2017 to 2023, winning the Japan Series in 2022. When he won the World Series with the Dodgers he became champion in the two biggest baseball leagues in the world.
In Japan, he was selected to the All-Star Game five times and won the prestigious Eiji Sawamura Award three times. This award recognizes the best pitcher in the Japanese League.
On the international stage, Yamamoto already has everything you can win. In 2019, the rightie was part of the Samurai Japan team, which won the second edition of the WBSC Premier12. Two years later, he was instrumental in Japan's gold medal run at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Yamamoto completed his international trifecta, winning the World Baseball Classic in 2023 with Japan.
With several years ahead in his career, Yamamoto needs only to be selected for the MLB All-Star Game and win the Cy Young, the MLB equivalent to the Eiji Sawamura, to complete one of the most impressive resumes in modern baseball history.