Top Free Agent Starter Has ‘10-15 Teams Interested’

The Major League Baseball free agency market is heating up, and teams are clearly desperate for pitching.

Aaron Nola was considered by some to be the top starting pitcher on the market heading into the offseason, thanks to a lengthy track record of high level performance and perhaps even more importantly, durability. But Nola quickly resigned with the Philadelphia Phillies, meaning the pool of available top-end starters is exceptionally thin.

Reigning Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell is unsigned, although some teams may be reluctant to shell out big bucks after he struggled with wildness pre-2023. That leaves Yoshinbu Yamamato, a 25-year-old starter who's dominated the Japanese baseball league with a sub-2.00 ERA in four of the past five years. And sure enough, his agent revealed recently that he's the most in-demand player he's ever seen.

“This is by far the player with the most interested teams that I have ever seen at the beginning of free agency,” said agent Joel Wolfe of the Wasserman Company. Wolfe also told Yahoo Japan that Yamamato does not have any geographic restrictions, a benefit for east coast teams looking for pitching.

MIAMI - Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Team Japan pitches in the eighth inning against Team Mexico during the World Baseball Classic Semifinals at loanDepot park on March 20 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)

Which Teams Are The Favorites To Land Yamamoto?

The amount of teams checking in with Yamamoto's agent isn't surprising given the shortage of pitching and the number of needs throughout the league.

The Dodgers, Padres, Cubs, Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees and Mets, just to name a few, could all be in the mix for the 25-year-old. Yamamoto does still have question marks; namely his height, at just 5 foot 10 inches tall. But his track record of dominance in Japan and age make him potentially more desirable than Snell, who turns 31 in early December.

Given their need and available budget, the Dodgers would seem to be the early favorite, and President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has reportedly scouted him in the past. But with this many teams circling, it's anyone's guess. Yamamoto's posting window is for just 45 days, so he'll have to make a decision by early January.

He certainly won't have a shortage of teams to choose from.