Party Like It's 1959 Dodger Fans

LOS ANGELES, CA- The year is 1959 and the Dodgers have secured their second World Series Championship in franchise history. This time however, the Dodgers are not led by Jackie Robinson and Peewee Reese, but instead by two young starting pitchers. A 23 year old Sandy Koufax is currently two years away from making his first All-Star team but played a role in the series by pitching 9 innings over two games. The second is 22 year old Don Drysdale, who won game 3 while pitching 7 innings of one-run ball. The future is bright for both of these young men. They will go on to win 3 more World Series Championships together, make a combined 16 All-Star game appearances and both be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Today we are seeing another super-duo formed in Los Angeles, albeit a much more expensive one. Will the tandem of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto ever live up to that of Koufax and Drysdale?

We know what Ohtani brings to the Dodgers. He is one of the most prolific power hitters in the game and has been a consensus top 25 starting pitcher since he came to the MLB. Yamamoto however had not set foot on an MLB mound prior to inking a massive $325 million contract. Clearly MLB scouts saw enough from him to start a bidding war for his services, but the casual MLB fan may not be aware of what he brings to the table. In a league dominated by the fastball, Yamamoto will enter the league with one of the best in his arsenal. In the NBP his fastball has regularly been clocked above MLB average speed, which coupled with his elite vertical break is a recipe for success. Another factor that has MLB analysts drooling is his unique delivery and low arm slot (the position from which a player releases a pitch) which many believe will throw off big league hitters similar to Brave’s ace Spencer Strider. Finally let’s look at one more stat that speaks volumes about his control. In the MLB last season there were 11 pitchers with an average fastball velocity over 95 mph with a vertical break of 17+ inches. Yamamoto would fit into that group based on his NBP data but would have the lowest walk rate at 1.54 walks per 9 innings pitched. For comparison, reigning Cy Young winner Gerritt Cole had a walk rate of 2.07. Combine all of this with his 6 pitch mix that includes a top tier splitter as well as a curveball, cutter, sinker and slider it appears that Yamamoto is as close to a can’t miss prospect as we have seen in many years.

Whether or not Ohatni and Yamamoto can bring the Dodgers back to the glory days of the 1950s remains a question only time can answer. However, it does seem certain that all the eyes of the baseball world will be on San Diego come March 20th when the Dodgers open up their regular season for good reason. Ohtani, Yamamoto and another newcomer, Tyler Glasnow, will join Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddy Freeman to chase World Series glory. It is my personal opinion that the Dodgers will reach the pinnacle of the sport more than once in the coming years and Ohtani and Yamamoto will go down as this generations Koufax and Drysdale. However, I doubt we can come up with a better nickname for them than “The Left Arm of God” and “The Big D”!

John Siebels is the owner of Springhill Sports Cards, he collects and sells sports cards on Ebay, you can find him on Instagram and his Ebay store here