CHICAGO —
In his first taste of the major leagues, Yoshinobu Yamamoto crumbled.
But on Saturday at Wrigley Field, staring down the barrel of a couple of early bases-loaded jams, the young star Japanese pitcher coolly, calmly and confidently refused to cave.
After signing his record-breaking $325 million contract this offseason — the largest in MLB history for a pitcher not named Shohei Ohtani — Yamamoto’s transition to the big leagues wasn’t exactly seamless.
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When coupled with all of the other challenges that come with uprooting one’s life and moving to a foreign country 6,000 miles away, Yamamoto didn’t always look settled.