Unleashing the Samurai Ace: Inside Yamamoto's Meteoric Rise in Year Two with Dodgers

“When you’re throwing pitches that you don’t want to throw,” Hernández noted, “your conviction is not the same as when you are throwing a pitch that you are committed to throwing.”

Yamamoto’s season being shortened by injury to just 18 starts also detracted from that process. His language barrier with the coaching staff was yet another complication.

“I feel bad for these guys,” bench coach Danny Lehmann, a key voice in the team’s game-planning meetings, said of the challenges Yamamoto and other Japanese imports face early in their MLB careers. “The language barrier, the culture, all that stuff is just a lot. Especially going straight to the big leagues.”

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