Samsung's MacKinnon Hits Home Run Against Yamamoto, Claims Undervaluation "Yamamoto Ranked 61st in ML?
He ranked 61st in the Major League even without throwing a single ball. MLB.COM, the official website of the Major League, ranked Yoshinobu Yamamoto (26) as the 61st among active players in the Major League. He was ahead of Kodai Senga (31), who had 12 wins and 7 losses (202 strikeouts) and an ERA of 2.98 with the New York Mets last year. Senga, who transferred from the Softbank Hawks, finished the specified number of innings (162 innings) in his first year, winning the most in his team and ranking second in ERA in the National League. He was ranked 63rd in MLB.COM rankings. Although his performance in the Japanese professional baseball league last year alone should be assessed, MLB.COM rated Yamamoto higher than Senga. Yamamoto's performance at the Orix Buffaloes from 2021 to 2023 was very strong. For the third consecutive year, he has won multiple wins, ERA, strikeouts, and four wins. He was the "super ace" who won the Sawamura Award, the Pacific League MVP, and the Golden Glove for the third consecutive year. A total of 325 million U.S. dollars for 12 years. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed a contract with Yamamoto for the longest period and the highest amount of a pitcher in the Major League Baseball. No matter how the best pitcher in the Japanese pro baseball is, his contract terms exceeded expectations. The Los Angeles Dodgers expects Yamamoto to be the first starting pitcher and ace since its debut season. His every move even before the start of the season has become news and hot topic of conversation. However, it is said that Yamamoto was "undervalued." Japanese media reported that infielder David McKinnon (30), who played for the Seibu Lions last year, posted a message on his SNS account shortly after the announcement of MLB Dotcom that "61st place is too low." McKinnon said, "They say I can't make it to the rankings because I haven't thrown a ball (in the Major League yet), but Yamamoto said he threw thousands of balls in Japan, but none of them hit it properly." He also said, "I will be in the top 30 at the end of the season." Last year, McKinnon and Yamamoto faced off relatively frequently in the same Pacific League. McKinnon went 3-for-14 with 17 at-bats, a batting average of 214, three walks and four strikeouts against Yamamoto. He hit a home run against the Orix Buffaloes on May 6. It was a big homerun for McKinnon. Yamamoto pitched 164 innings last season and gave up only two homers. McKinnon hit one of them. McKinnon had a batting average of 259 (120 hits in 464 times at bat) and 15 homers and 50 RBIs in 127 games as a member of Seibu last year. He played in all of the games before his registration as a member of the Major League was revoked due to back pain on Aug. 26. He became the No. 1 hitter and batted first among foreigners in the Pacific League. Seibu offered to renew the contract with a slight increase in salary, but chose to go to Korea. McKinnon, who joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 32nd round of the 2017 rookie draft, made his Major League debut in 2022. He played in 22 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics that year, posting seven hits in 50 at-bats, a batting average of 140, and six RBIs without a home run. Instead of trying the Major League in 2023, he experienced Japanese pro baseball, and moved to the Samsung Lions late last year. He received 90 million yen (about 800 million won) from Seibu, but signed a 1 million-dollar contract with Samsung. Jose Pirella, a 35-year-old outfielder who played until last year, also joined the Samsung Lions while playing for the Hiroshima Carp in the Japanese pro baseball league. Yamamoto appeared in 172 games (118 starts) in seven seasons with the Orix, posting 70-29 losses with one save of 32 holds and a 1.82 ERA.