When Yoshinobu Yamamoto made the jump to Major League Baseball two years ago, he brought with him one of the most unique training routines for any pitcher.
Yamamoto does not lift weights and rather focuses on a combination of breathing, flexibility and yoga-style drills.
The 27-year-old also notably uses javelins to train the correct throwing path and force transfer from the ground up in an effort to reduce stress on his arm.
During an appearance on “Baseball & Coffee” with Adam Ottavino, Los Angeles Dodgers free agent Kiké Hernández marveled at Yamamoto’s training routine and believes it has held up so far:
“He came in and was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got my routine. Think whatever you want to think, but I’ve got my routine and this is what works for me.’ He’s got a very different one. He just came in, Day 1, and started doing his thing. Game 7 of the World Series a full season later, he’s doing the same thing. The consistency of his work and how focused he is when he’s working, it’s crazy.
“Every day you have music in the weight room just blasting, and every day is a different type of music. The starting pitcher gets to choose his music that day. When you don’t understand the language, music sounds like sounds. There’s just a really loud and different sounds blasting in your ears. And this dude is just doing all this balance stuff, breathing out of a straw. It is insane. You have people like me behind him trying to make him laugh, trying to do his stuff behind him and things like that. And he doesn’t break. When I first saw him, I’m like, ‘With that body and this workout style of not lifting weights, I don’t know how long he’s going to last.’ But he’s held it down, man.
“There’s nothing more impressive than watching this dude play catch. He’s got the prettiest throw in baseball. Once he’s done throwing those javelins, you have to take 30 minutes to an hour to go outside and watch him play catch. He goes through his [expletive] and he comes set and he really thinks about it in between every throw. Sometimes he doesn’t like it and he steps off even though there’s no mound. And he gets back into it and from, like, 400 feet away, as if he’s throwing to home plate, he just throws it on a line.”
While there was never a doubt about Yamamoto’s potential for stardom in MLB, some scouts were initially concerned that his smaller frame could lead to durability issues.
That hasn’t fully been the case, as Yamamoto made 18 starts during his rookie season before setting career-highs across the board in 2025. Yamamoto made 30 regular-season starts and six more appearances during the playoffs, including back-to-back outings in Games 6 and 7.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto wants to pitch in WBC
While Shohei Ohtani has already confirmed his plans to be with Samurai Japan for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, it remains to be seen if Yamamoto will participate.
The right-hander recently said his status for the WBC has not been decided on but he hopes to represent Japan again.
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