Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named the National League pitcher of the month for April, Major League Baseball announced on Friday.
Yamamoto, who starts Friday night against the Braves in Atlanta in the Dodgers’ first game of May, led the majors with a 1.06 ERA during April, along with his 43 strikeouts against 11 walks in 34 innings over six starts.
After striking out nine in a game once as a rookie in 2024, Yamamoto this season struck out at least nine in three of his first five starts, including a pair of 10-strikeout games. The second of those double-digit-strikeouts games was on April 18 against the Rangers, in which Yamamoto pitched seven scoreless innings to out-duel Jacob deGrom at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
Yamamoto is the first Dodger to win pitcher of the month since Clayton Kershaw in April 2023.
He’s the fourth Japanese-born pitcher to win pitcher of the month in MLB, joining former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo (June 1995 and September 1996), Masahiro Tanaka (May 2014 with the Yankees), and Yu Darvish (July/August 2020 with the Cubs, and September/October 2022 with the Padres).
