12 years

In late December, the Dodgers introduced Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto as a Dodger for the first time. Yamamoto pitched for the Orix Buffaloes from 2017 to 2023, posting a 1.82 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP over 897 innings. Yamamoto was posted in late November and the Dodgers won the bidding war. Eventually, the Dodgers and Yamamoto agreed to a 12-year deal.

 

It's never easy to secure a long-term contract in the MLB. The Dodgers must be confident that Yoshinobu Yamamoto will make an impact in the majors. Nonetheless, while seeing the 12-year contract, I began to think about a question.

 

Over the last decades, there have been so many pitchers who pitched in the majors. Nevertheless, how many of those Asian pitchers have already pitched in the majors for more than 10 years? Additionally, how many pitchers from Asia used to spend at least 10 seasons in the MLB?

 

To understand a little bit more, I chose to check on the great baseball reference website.

 

Firstly, let’s take a look at the pitchers from Japan. Hideo Nomo, without doubt, is a pioneer. His jump to the MLB surely cleared the way for baseball players in Asia. Nomo made his MLB debut in 1995. In total, Nomo spent 12 seasons in the majors, posting a 4.24 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP over 1976.1 innings.

 

In addition, Yu Darvish made his MLB debut in 2012. He has been pitching for the Rangers, the Dodgers, the Cubs and the Padres. By far, Darvish has pitched 11 seasons in the MLB and owned a 3.59 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP over 1624.1 innings. Furthermore, Tomo Ohka pitched 10 seasons in the majors, posting a 4.26 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP over 1070 innings.

 

Finally, we can’t ignore great pitchers from Korea. So far, there are 2 Korean pitchers who have pitched or used to pitch in the majors for at least 10 seasons. The first one is Chan Ho Park. He made his MLB debut in 1994 and his last game in the MLB was in 2010. In total, Park spent 17 seasons in the majors, posting a 4.36 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP over 1993 innings. The other Korean pitcher who has pitched 10+ years in the majors is Hyun Jin Ryu. Ryu made his MLB debut in 2013 and by far, he has tossed more than 1000 innings in the majors with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.

As we can see, there haven’t been so many Asian pitchers who have pitched or used to pitch at least 10 seasons in the MLB. Hideo Nomo tossed 1976.1 innings and earned 123 wins in 12 years in the majors. Yu Darvish will enter his 12th season in the majors and he’s looking forward to throwing his 2000th strikeout in the majors. Well, there’s a lot of discussion whether a pitcher who never threw a pitch in the majors should ink such a big deal, it’s certain that the Dodgers have a plan on Yoshinobu Yamamoto. However, when it comes to a 12-year deal, it’ll be very interesting to watch Yamamoto’s career in the majors. If he can toss at least 10 seasons in the majors, what numbers will he show us, 100 wins, 1500 strikeouts or even more?