The next Yoshinobu Yamamoto? He's already dreaming of the Major Leagues

TOKYO -- It was easy for a young Japanese ace-in-the-making to slip under the radar at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. There was Shohei Ohtani, starting, relieving, and hammering baseballs all over the park. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was a year away from winning his third consecutive Sawamura Award as the best pitcher in the NPB before joining the Dodgers last winter. And then there was the sensation, Roki Sasaki, a fireballing ace who is set to be posted for Major League teams this winter.

That meant Hiroto Takahashi, then just 20 years old, managed to escape the hype machine -- despite striking out Mike Trout and Paul Goldschmidt in relief against the USA in the championship game.

"That was one of the greatest experiences in my life," Takahashi said through Yukino Imai, who translated, before the start of the Premier12 super round, where he will take the mound against the United States on Thursday night at the Tokyo Dome. "It made me want to stand on that mound once again. That's my dream right now."

It may be hard to ignore him for long -- especially once Sasaki signs with a big league team and scouts start looking for the next big thing. Takahashi took another step forward this year, going 12-4 with a 1.38 ERA and and a 130/34 K/BB rate to cement himself as one of Samurai Japan's best young pitchers. He's known for his blazing fastball -- at one point, he set the NPB record for hardest pitch on a 98.2 mph heater -- and a wipeout split-finger.

That Takahashi shares an affinity for the split, which Yamamoto used to befuddle big league batters to the tune of a .170 batting average this season, shouldn't be a surprise: Takahashi idolizes Yamamoto and trained with him over the winter before the 2024 season and has even patterned his mechanics after the Dodgers right-hander.

"His pitching skill, his pitching style, everything -- I think he's the best pitcher that I've ever seen in my life," Takahashi said with a broad smile. "I'm trying to take away anything that I can, steal everything from Yoshinobu."

Takahashi credits his success this past season to the work he did with Yamamoto, as well as the way he mixes up his fastball and diving splitter -- something he is looking to utilize against an extremely young USA Baseball team at the Premier12.

"We know that they have a lot of strong hitters and players who [like to swing] but nothing to change [about my approach]," Takahashi said. "I will do what I always do and have been doing through the season: Strong fastballs and strike them out on the split."

With the success that pitchers such as Ohtani and Yamamoto have had in the Major Leagues and the attention that Sasaki has been receiving ahead of his posting, it should be no surprise that Takahashi is already dreaming of a trip to America. At only 21 years old, though, it will likely be a few years before he makes his way across the Pacific. NPB players need nine years of service time before they can become an international free agent, otherwise it is up to the team to decide when and if it wants to make a player available through the posting system.

"I'm always aiming for the highest level of play, so of course I'm thinking of playing [in the Major Leagues], but I feel like my skill is not there yet," Takahashi said. "Right now, I want to focus on brushing up my skills, but one day, yes, that would be nice."