The 2025 MLB season was a year in which Japanese players shone brightly, with Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers winning the MVP award for the third consecutive year and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers making a historic performance and winning the World Series MVP award. And the next generation of Japanese ace players is expected to be Orix Buffaloes. Shumpeita Yamashita He's pitcher.

Two years ago, I, former Orix Buffaloes pitcher Yu Suzuki, wrote about pitcher as a player I would recommend to the U.S., but pitcher is a pitcher with a different kind of potential. He's six years younger than me, and joined the team as the first draft pick in 2020 from Fukuoka University Ohori High School. I played with him for just one year at Orix Buffaloes, during his rookie year. As a former teammate who has seen his growth up close, I'd like to explain why I recommend him to the U.S.

A high school graduate rookie with the composure of a 22-year-old

When pitcher joined The Buffaloes, what surprised me most was his intelligence and composure. Usually, first-year high school graduates are busy just getting used to the professional environment, but Yamashita was different. He calmly grasped his current position and decided that this was a time to build a physique that would be useful in the future, rather than develop skills that would allow him to win right away, and he continued to practice and do weight training.

Even when practicing, he was always thinking about theories behind "why this training is necessary." He didn't simply listen to advice from his seniors and trainers, but rather seemed to ask them specifically how he should approach his condition. His calm demeanor made him seem like a 22-year-old athlete, four years out of high school.

Through my on-site reporting, I feel that this "ability to look at yourself calmly from a bird's-eye view" is a quality that is more important than skill when fighting alone in a foreign land.

pitch style is similar to Shohei Ohtani

In terms of pitch style, I think he is closer to Ohtani than pitcher Yamamoto, who is a senior at Orix Buffaloes.

pitcher Yamamoto controls a variety of pitches with perfect control and pitcher the opponent's weakness in calmly closer. On the other hand, Ohtani is the type of pitcher that overwhelms with power, centered on a powerful fastball that comes from overwhelming physical strength and a sweeper that bends sideways.

fastball pitcher Yamashita, who is 190 cm tall, has a high release position, and from there it is pierced into the mitt at a terrible angle. By combining this "angle" and "ball power", I think we can expect pitching that pushes hard like Ohtani.

Shumpeita Yamashita 's fastball has "elite-level hop content"

In recent MLB, Paul Skins pitcher (Pirates), who won the Cy Young Award in the National League, Jacob Miziorowski pitcher (Brewers), who won three consecutive victories since his debut, runs strike out and Trey Yesabage pitcher ( Blue Jays), etc., young fastball pitcher are active.

Yamashita's fastest speed of 161 km/h pitcher, like Miziorovski pitcher, is good at closer at fastball, making it easier to take a swing in the breaking ball. While Miziorowski pitcher is a bit rough and pushy, Yamashita pitcher has a clear intention for distributing the ball due to the aforementioned intelligence and logic, and it can be imagined that it will match the environment where a lot of data is used.

In addition, rather than both Yamashita pitcher and Yesabage pitcher throwing a variety of breaking ball, Yamashita pitcher competes with fastball, curves, and fork, and Yesabage pitcher plays with fastball, slider, and fork. In MLB, "2-3 pitches that are excellent" tend to be rated more than "average pitches", which is why I would like to recommend Yamashita pitcher to the United States. Yamashita pitcher fastball is evaluated in the United States as having an "elite hop component", and I think it has the potential to overturn the strong hitter that are on par with it.

Now, in MLB, the performance of Japan players has become a "commonplace" sight, but pitcher Yamashita is expected to be a player who has the potential to raise the standard of "normal" to the next level. We will pay attention to what kind of pitch it will show in the future, and we will see if it can be further leveled up.

Text: Yu Suzuki