Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto won the Eiji Sawamura Award as Japanese pro baseball's most impressive starting pitcher Monday, joining Hall of Famer Masaichi Kaneda as the only player to win the award three straight years.
Yamamoto, who is expected to move to MLB next season via the posting system, has led the Pacific League in strikeouts, ERA, wins and winning percentage for three straight seasons and is a strong candidate to win his third straight PL MVP award.
In a year when no pitchers met two of the seven benchmarks the selection committee uses as guidelines, 10 complete games and 200 innings, the 25-year-old Yamamoto beat out some stiff competition from DeNA BayStars lefty Katsuki Azuma.
Azuma pitched in one more game, threw four complete games to Yamamoto's two, also won 16 games while losing three fewer and pitched 8-1/3 more innings. Yamamoto, however, struck out 36 more batters and posted a better ERA, 1.21 to Azuma's 1.98.
On Friday in Osaka, Yamamoto admitted finding plenty of pitfalls in a year that began with his contributing to Japan's World Baseball Classic championship in March.
"It wasn't all good," he told Kyodo News. "There were various problem areas as well, but at the end of the season, the team did win the pennant. I didn't have any injury trouble, and I was able to deliver some good performances. I credit my practice regimen for that."
In September, Yamamoto threw a no-hitter for the second consecutive year, something previously accomplished in 1936 and 1937 by Sawamura and in 1940 and 1941 by Tadashi Kameda.
Committee member Hisashi Yamada said he gave weight to Yamamoto's contribution to the national team.
"If I had to choose one person, it would be Yoshinobu Yamamoto," Yamada said. "I wanted someone who deserved to win the award after contributing to the national team and putting up good numbers."
Yamamoto, in turn, credited the WBC with improving the way he approached games.
"(I became) better able to prepare so that I can focus solely on one game and then competing as well as I can within that one game and going all in," Yamamoto said. "This has allowed me to raise my concentration level higher than it ever was before."
The award is meant to honor the legacy of Eiji Sawamura, the first ace pitcher of the Yomiuri Giants, and is sponsored by the team's parent company.
The five other benchmarks consulted by the panel of former pitchers are 25 games, 15 wins, a .600 winning percentage, 150 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.50 or lower.
