Japanese professional baseball ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 25, has won the Sawamura Award for the third consecutive year.
The Sawamura Award Selection Committee met on Tuesday to select the Orix Buffaloes ace. This is the third consecutive year Yamamoto has received the honor, starting with the 2021 season.
He is only the second player in Nippon Professional Baseball history to win the Sawamura Award three years in a row, and the first in 65 years since 400-win Japanese-American pitcher Masaichi Kaneda (Kim Kyung-hong, 1956-1958).
Yamamoto pitched in 23 games this year, going 16-1 with 169 strikeouts, two complete games, a 1.21 ERA and a 7-2 record in 164 innings.
There was a hot contender.
It was Yokohama DeNA left-hander Katsuki Azuma. In 24 games, Azuma went 16-16 with 133 strikeouts, four walks, a 1.98 ERA, and an 8.24 W-L record in 172 innings pitched. Despite leading in completions and innings pitched, the selection committee chose Yamamoto.카지노사이트
This was because Yamamoto met four of the seven criteria for the Sawamura Award, while Azuma met only three. The seven criteria are 15 wins, 150 strikeouts, 10 complete games, a sub-2.50 ERA, 200 innings pitched, 25 starts, and a winning percentage of 6 percent.
Yamamoto will reach the major leagues via the posting system after finishing the Japan Series. He dominated the Nippon League for the third year in a row this year with a fastball that averaged 153 mph, a 144 mph fork, a 123 mph curve, a 148 mph cut fastball, a 152 mph two-seam, and a 136 mph slider.
Several major league clubs have expressed interest. He is the same age as KBO slugger Lee Jung-hoo. Both players are expected to be worth up to $100 million. Fans in Korea and Japan are eager to see what the deal will be.
Yamamoto started the first game of the Japan Series against the Hanshin Tigers on April 28, but was humiliated by seven runs on 10 hits.
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