As the center fielder for Team Japan in last spring’s World Baseball Classic, Lars Nootbaar had a unique view of the jaw-dropping four-pitch repertoire of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Japanese right-hander who agreed to a 12-year, $325-million deal with the Dodgers on Thursday.
Nootbaar, the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder whose mother is Japanese, marveled at the way Yamamoto’s fastball, which sits in the 94-95-mph range and touches 97 mph with good ride from a lower release point, seemed to “jump out of his hand.”
He described Yamamoto’s split-fingered fastball, which is thrown between 86-92 mph with a 10-inch horizontal break and a late 32-inch drop, as “really gross.