Red Sox Reportedly On Hand To Scout Next Japanese Star Pitcher

Scouting the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball already worked once for the Boston Red Sox with them signing Masataka Yoshida.

And it appears the Red Sox hope it could work to their advantage again.

According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, the Red Sox were one of a big handful of teams on hand to watch the start of Japanese pitching star Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday.

The right-hander didn’t disappoint with at least 10 Major League Baseball teams in attendance. He tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and a walk to go along with five strikeouts while featuring a four-seam fastball that can reach 97 mph to go along with a cutter, curveball and splitter.

Yamamoto, who turned 25 last week, has dazzled in his seventh season with the Buffaloes this year. He has posted a 13-5 record to go along with a minuscule 1.34 ERA and a 0.896 WHIP. He also has struck out 135 batters in 134 innings.

If the Red Sox hope to land Yamamoto, who is expected to be posted by Orix, they will have to fight off plenty of competition. The New York Mets, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers all watched Yamamoto pitch, per Heyman.

But the Red Sox may just have a leg up on those other teams since they have a former teammate of Yamamoto already on the roster.