Red Sox Reportedly Scouted Japanese Ace With Free Agency Looming

Boston likely will highly covet arguably the top starter on the market

Scott Neville | Aug 25, 2023

Red Sox Reportedly Scouted Japanese Ace With Free Agency Looming /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have long-scouted Japan's top hurler and almost certainly will make a strong bid for his services when he is posted this winter.

As the offseason nears, rumors continue to swirl, and the Red Sox have remained right in the mix any time the top international free agent is mentioned.

"The Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Cardinals were among at least 10 teams to scout Orix Buffaloes right-handed star Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s start Wednesday, and he impressed over seven scoreless innings with poise, focus and athleticism, and also with several solid-to-plus pitches -- including a four-seamer up to 97 mph, cutter, curveball and splitter," The New York Post's Jon Heyman wrote Thursday.

The 25-year-old is 12-5 with a ridiculous 1.42 ERA, 128-to-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 0.93 WHIP in 127 innings this season across 18 games this season in the Nippon Baseball League.

Over the course of his generational career, the Japanese superstar is 66-28 with a 1.87 ERA, 881-to-198 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 0.94 WHIP in 860 innings across 167 games.

The Red Sox have been seen scouting him in the past and would be a fantastic fit for Yamamoto for so many reasons. The right-hander has a rare blend of having a lengthy track record of dominance while being in the prime of his career -- arguably before his prime.

The Red Sox just reset the luxury tax and can spend heavily over the winter without repercussions. As an added bonus, Boston could sign Yamamoto and maintain all draft compensation. Most frontline starters will have a qualified offer attached to them but that is not possible for international free agents.

Yamamato's Orix Buffaloes and World Baseball Classic teammate Masataka Yoshida already resides in Boston -- where he has acclimated nicely to Major League Baseball. Hopefully, he could be influential in the Red Sox's upcoming recruiting pitch.

Boston could desperately use Yamamoto's services and should be considered a favorite to land him.

More MLB: Red Sox Reportedly Among Favorites To Sign Shohei Ohtani Post-Injury

Published Aug 25, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu