The Los Angeles Dodgers went on a shopping spree this offseason. Their two biggest signings come from Japan: former MVP Shohei Ohtani and Japanese sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ohtani has been his usual excellent self during spring training. Yamamoto, on the other hand, hasn't been playing that well. He has a dreadful 8.38 ERA during spring training: terrible numbers by any standards.

Despite some pitching experts' critiques of Yamamoto's performance, the Dodgers are not worried about the Japanese sensation's performance, per the New York Post. Executives point to Yamamoto's abnormally high BABIP as a reason for his absurdly bad ERA.

“Yoshinobu Yamamato’s 8.38 spring ERA doesn’t have the Dodgers worried about the $325M pitcher. But one pitching expert said he’d be a little concerned about the simple windup (no leg kick) and lack of deception. “If he makes a mistake,” the guru says, “he’s going to get hit.” The Dodgers believe the numbers are misleading, and a ridiculous .517 BABIP certainly indicates that as he’s been as unlucky on the mound as he was fortunate in the negotiating room.”

BABIP stands for “batting average on balls in play”. In essence, that means that whenever a batter gets a hit on Yamomoto, said batter gets on base more than half the time. For reference, the average BABIP in the MLB is around .300. The Dodgers are banking on this stat as an explanation for Yamamoto's dismal performance.

A high BABIP isn't necessarily a sign that Yamamoto is absolved of all blame.  It's certainly possible that the balls that Yamamoto puts in play puts his fielders in a tough situation. Still, the Dodgers believe that the Japanese sensation can figure it out before Opening Day.