Japanese professional baseball ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (25) received the Sawamura Award for three consecutive years.
The Sawamura Award selection committee held a meeting on the 30th and selected Orix Buffaloes’ ace Yamamoto. Yamamoto won the honorary award for three consecutive years starting from the 2021 season.
In the history of Japanese professional baseball, this is the second time in 65 years and the second time in history that a Korean-Japanese pitcher Masaichi Kaneda (Kim Gyeong-hong, 1956-1958) to win the Sawamura Award three years in a row.
Yamamoto appeared in 23 games this year and recorded 16 wins, 169 strikeouts, 2 complete innings, an ERA of 1.21, and a winning percentage of .727 in 164 innings.
He had hot competition.
It was Yokohama DeNA left-handed pitcher Azuma Katsuki. Azuma appeared in 24 games and recorded 16 wins, 133 strikeouts, 4 complete games, an ERA of 1.98, and a winning percentage of .804 in 172 innings. He was ahead in complete games and innings winning percentage, but the selection committee chose Yamamoto.
The reason was that out of the seven criteria for the Sawamura Award, Yamamoto met four, while Azuma met only three. The seven criteria are 15 wins, 150 strikeouts, 10 complete games, an ERA below 2.50, 200 innings, 25 appearances on the mound, and a winning percentage of .600.
After Yamamoto finishes the Japan Series, he will advance to the major league through the posting system. This year, he dominated the Japanese league for the third year in a row with an average fastball velocity of 153km, a fork of 144km, a curve of 123km, a cut fastball of 148km, a two-seam of 152km, and a slider of 136km. 토스카지노 주소
A number of major league clubs are expressing interest. He is the same age as Lee Jeong-hoo, the KBO league’s leading hitter. The two players are expected to receive up to $100 million in compensation. Korean and Japanese fans are very interested in what conditions he will enter the major league under.
However, Yamamoto started in Game 1 of the Japan Series against the Hanshin Tigers on the 28th, but suffered the humiliation of allowing 10 hits and 7 runs. /sunny@osen.co.kr