Scouting Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Why the Dodgers think he’ll succeed in MLB

LOS ANGELES — As Yoshinobu Yamamoto slid into his new uniform for the first time, his blue vest popping underneath the crisp Los Angeles Dodgers home whites, it was a coronation: one for the organization that coveted him for years, and one for the 25-year-old Japanese right-hander who inked the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history before he’d even thrown a pitch in the major leagues.

The record contract and his robust market were an indication that the Dodgers’ bullish opinion of him was a shared one. His track record of dominance in his native country was well documented. His age provided a unique opportunity. And as his new club officially introduced him Wednesday, the man who saw him as much as anyone in the organization was seated in the front row.

Galen Carr, the Dodgers’ vice president of player personnel, was far from the only person who watched Yamamoto pitch last season. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes each took treks to Osaka, Japan, to witness this offseason’s latest prize in person with the Orix Buffaloes, with Gomes raving about the experience of watching Yamamoto’s intricacies in real time. Ron Deeble, the club’s director of scouting in the Pacific Rim, made his share of trips. So too did the club’s Pacific Rim adviser, Yogo Suzuki, and pro scout Jason Lynn. Even manager Dave Roberts spent much of the club’s recruitment of Yamamoto poring over video (as did plenty of other staffers). One of the club’s catchers, Austin Barnes, has already seen Yamamoto as well — he faced him during the World Baseball Classic in March. Yet it was Carr, who has seen Yamamoto an estimated 16 times over the past few seasons, who saw him the most, and who drew rave reviews from Gomes, Roberts and others.

“He’s been doing what he’s been doing for quite a while,” Carr said in a conversation with The Athletic on Thursday, noting a sterling track record that has seen Yamamoto take home the Sawamura Award (Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent to the Cy Young Award) three consecutive times. “Ever since he broke in at the top level of Japan, he’s basically been lights-out.”

That includes a 1.72 career ERA in 188 appearances in Japan, a run that firmly planted him on the radar for several of baseball’s deepest-pocketed clubs and puts together a compelling argument for what he can accomplish next. He’ll be paid $325 million over the next 12 years to prove it, a sizable investment for a Dodgers organization that typically has mitigated risk.

Given what they’ve seen, it’s one they’re willing to take.

Carr pointed to Yamamoto’s adaptability, including a surprise in the spring when several members of the Dodgers’ brass arrived to Samurai Japan’s training camp in Miyazaki only to find Yamamoto had drastically altered his delivery, tamping down his leg kick in favor of a slide step to help control the running game and abbreviate his…