What is Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Net Worth and Salary?
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher who has a net worth of $40 million. As we detail in the next section, in Deceber 2023 Yoshinobu signed a record-setting contract for a pitcher in Major League Baseball, when he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Previously, from 2017 to 2023, he played for NPB’s Orix Buffaloes in Japan. Among his career accomplishments, Yamamoto won three Triple Crowns in three consecutive years with the Buffaloes, making him the first player in professional baseball history to do so.
LA Dodgers Contract
In December 2023, Yamamoto signed a 12-year contract with MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers worth $325 million. It is the largest contract ever given to an MLB pitcher. This came a couple weeks after the Dodgers signed fellow Japanese pitcher Shohei Ohtani to a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract. Below are the key details of Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s record contract:
- 12-year, $325 million contract: This is the largest contract ever given to a pitcher in MLB history.
- $50 million signing bonus: Paid out in installments ($20M in February 2024, $30M in July 2024).
- Average annual value (AAV): $27.08 million.
- 2024 salary: $5 million base salary + $50 million signing bonus pro-rated for the season = $9.17 million total.
- Opt-outs: Yamamoto can opt out after the 2029 and 2031 seasons.
- Luxury perks: Hotel suite on road trips, five roundtrip airline tickets each year, full-time interpreter, personal trainer, and physical therapist. Notably, he also cannot be assigned to the minor leagues without his consent.
- The Dodgers paid a $50.625 million posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes to acquire Yamamoto’s negotiating rights.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Early Life
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was born on August 17, 1998 in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, Japan.
Orix Buffaloes
In August of 2017, Yamamoto made his debut in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Pacific League’s Orix Buffaloes. He had his breakout season in 2019, when he led the league with a 1.95 ERA. Yamamoto went on to lead the league in strikeouts in 2020. He had his best career season yet in 2021, when he went 18-5 and won the Japanese Triple Crown by leading the league in ERA, strikeouts, and wins. For the year, Yamamoto was named the Pacific League MVP. Moreover, he won the Eiji Sawamura Award, the Best Nine Award, and the Pacific League Golden Glove Award.
Yamamoto continued his incredible success in his final two seasons in NPB. In 2022, he went 15-5 with a 1.68 ERA and 205 strikeouts, and won the Triple Crown, the Eiji Sawamura Award, the Best Nine Award, and the Golden Glove Award for the second consecutive year. Yamamoto won all those accolades again for a third consecutive year in 2023. In the process, he became the first player in professional baseball history to win the Triple Crown in three consecutive years. Yamamoto also threw his second career no-hitter, making him the first pitcher in NPB history to throw no-hitters in consecutive seasons. The Buffaloes went on to play in the 2023 Japan Series, where they fell to the Hanshin Tigers in seven games.
International Playing
Beyond his domestic career, Yamamoto has played for the Japan national baseball team on many occasions. In 2019, he was part of the team that won the gold medal at the WBSC Premier12 in Tokyo. Two years later, Yamamoto helped Japan win gold at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, defeating Team USA. He later helped lead Japan to a gold medal in the World Baseball Classic in Miami, Florida in 2023, once again beating Team USA. It was Japan’s record-extending third title in the tournament.
