The Detroit Tigers are Interested in Japanese Ace Who is Biggest FA Not Named Ohtani

The Detroit Tigers are among the teams interested in Japanese sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Now-former Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani is the biggest prize this offseason for major league teams in free agency.

His fellow Japanese sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto is right up there too, attracting widespread interest. He is just 25 years old.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that several teams - including the Detroit Tigers - are interested.

How popular is Yamamoto? Every big-market team is interested, plus the Diamondbacks and Tigers.

Recently, ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney told 'The Brady Farkas Show' that he's hearing Yamamoto will definitely get at least $200 million on the open market.

An MLBTradeRumors article from February of 2023 had more on Yamamoto:

Scouts to whom Sherman spoke raved about Yamamoto’s potential in the big leagues, touting a heater that sits mid-90s and reaches the upper-90s, a “plus-plus” (i.e. 70-grade) splitter, a “world class” curveball, a quick delivery to the plate and the athleticism to field his position well. One evaluator speaking to Sherman tabbed him a “full [scouting] grade” (on the 20-80 scale) ahead of right-hander Kodai Senga, who signed a five-year, $75MM deal with the Mets this offseason.

He went 17-6 this year in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, pitching to a miniscule 1.16 ERA. He struck out 176 batters in 171.0 innings. He was pitching for the Orix Buffaloes, which is the same organization that Ichiro Suzuki played for.

As for the Tigers, they finished second in the American League Central in 2023 but are looking to continue that ascent in 2024. They have Riley Torkelson and Riley Greene on the position player side but definitely need to add to their rotation, especially after losing Eduardo Rodriguez in free agency.

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