Star in waiting

New Dodgers hurler expected to be a Hollywood sensation

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Japanese League and free-agent sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound Wednesday for the third time this spring since signing with the traveling show of stars known as the Los Angeles Dodgers, and if all begins to go as expected after a rather uneven start in Dodgers blue for the $325 million man, he will move up the list of stars on a team perfectly designed for Hollywood.

For now, Yamamoto — who signed the richest pitching contract ever, beating Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, by a measly mil (not even counting the $51M posting fee) — by all rights should be ranked behind the incomparable two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani, and probably former MVPs Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, the sudden shortstop, but ahead of the rest of the team (including even all-time great pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who heads an extra rotation of stars on the IL), plus partowner Magic Johnson, baseball president Andrew Friedman, visiting fan Will Ferrell and the stream of celebs expected to stop by through what promises to be one of the most fascinating baseball seasons on record.

Here’s another thing: These Dodgers should be very good, too. Las Vegas is projecting 103 wins, but one Dodger predicted they’d blow through that number. “Easy,” he said. It’s hard to doubt them after a walkthrough of a clubhouse that includes four almost certain Hall of Famers and ridiculous talent among even the non Hall of Famers.

If Yamamato isn’t a superstar, every big-market team in baseball missed on him — including the Yankees and Mets, who also tried especially hard for the 25year-old phenom. The Dodgers, rightly, aren’t putting much stock in a spring when he finished Wednesday with an 8.38 ERA after being hit around by the Mariners’ “A” team in an ugly loss. “He’s going to be all right, he’s going to be more than all right,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

The scouts all love him, and that isn’t changing soon. One NL scout says Yamamoto has a plus curveball, great fastball and “devastating” splitter to go with what scouts suggest is all-time great command.

Yamamato seems unworried, as well, after a second straight less than $325M result (though he does have 14 strikeouts in 9 ¹/₃ spring innings). “When I was in Japan I was thinking about the numbers,” he said. “But because I came to a different league, it’s different now. I know what I need to do to get ready for the season.”

There’s no way this spring is a real measure of his ability, almost no chance everyone had it wrong. He was easily the most coveted free-agent pitcher ever, which is something considering he’s never gotten an out in a major league game, and he’s 5-foot-10ish and 175 pounds. But obviously he has other attributes, such as “the best command ever” in the words of another scout.

Yamamoto carried a 1.82 career ERA in Japan, and every big-market team did whatever they could to try to sign him. Once he sailed past the $200M figure projected, folks in the know say it became about where he wanted to be. No surprise: He took the Dodgers, the team that’s a World Series favorite where he could blend in as just one star. The Phillies reportedly bid even higher than $325M, and the Mets, who visited him in Japan and invited him to Steve Cohen’s house, might have, too, if it meant bringing him into the fold. The Yankees acted confident about their chances when Yamamoto showed interest in pinstriped history (and boy, could they ever use him now). But either he’s a baseball history buff or just a good actor, which should fit his new surroundings, too. “The Dodgers have been on a great run the last 11 years,” said Yamamato, who apparently knows a thing or two about the Dodgers’ history too. “I just felt it was a great fit for me.” Yamamoto was dominant at times Wednesday, just as he was in his previous start.

Dodgers people were noting how Ichiro Suzuki and other phenoms failed to post big numbers their first spring. I get it. No need to overplay this. This should be the year of LA, whose only title since 1988 came in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Even the rival Giants, who’ve won hundreds of fewer games since LA’s last full-season championship, have three more rings in that time. Speaking of rings, it’s a circus-like atmosphere around the team, with media outnumbering players by several fold. Most of them are here to see Ohtani, the international sensation with the $700M deal.

There are a lot of extraordinary things about this team, but one of the most remarkable goes beyond the current 26 to the rotation in waiting, led by the all-time great Kershaw, former All-Star Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin. Throw in Ohtani, and you have a full rotation as good as any in the bigs. Buehler, May and Kershaw are expected to join the rotation at some point, which is led by Tyler Glasnow, another big winter acquisition — unlike Yamamoto, he’s killing it; no hits allowed in his past two outings — and of course Yamamoto, who really should be the ace. At these prices, he better be.

PORT ST. LUCIE — The results, at least on paper, don’t support the positive spring evaluations Starling Marte has received. Two hits in 22 atbats would mark an early-season worry for any veteran, but especially Marte — who was limited to 86 games in 2023 due to a groin injury that returned.

But shortstop Francisco Lindor said he never would’ve realized Marte had just two hits until the number was presented to him. Hitting coach Jeremy Barnes cited high — really, really high — exit velocities as a sign of everything starting to click. Those velocities were the “flags” last year that warned something was off, but this spring, Barnes told The Post, they’ve reflected a normal Marte.

“Spring training … sporadic at-bats here and there, I’m not gonna put too much clout in that yet,” Barnes said Tuesday. “I just like to see the ball jumping off of his bat again.”

During Monday’s game against the Marlins, Marte blasted a ball 108.5 mph that traveled 398 feet and would’ve been a homer in 10 MLB ballparks, but it was tracked down in Clover Park. There have been similar instances throughout the spring games, too. The Mets have less than two weeks to help Marte produce more results, the tangible hits that always make concerns disappear, but for now, they’ll settle for the underlying numbers that suggest a breakthrough could be nearing.

“The results haven’t all been there,” Marte told The Post before the Mets defeated the Astros, 6-5, on Wednesday, “but I see how I’m hitting the ball, I see the direction of where I’m hitting the ball and I’m really encouraged by that.”

The expectation from the Mets, and Marte himself, was that he’d return as their regular right fielder in 2024. He underwent double-groin surgery following the 2022 season and aggravated the groin again last year, and he hit just .248 with a .623 OPS. Lindor said it was “very difficult” to watch Marte struggle through the campaign one season after he made the All-Star Game and hit .292. The Mets’ lineup was different without that version of Marte.

He returned to play his traditional outfield spot in camp, alongside Harrison Bader in center and Brandon Nimmo in left, and reiterated Wednesday that he feels good in the field after the recovery. But the upside of that trio becomes limited if Marte’s numbers at the plate don’t improve.

He recorded two hits across his first three spring games, but a sixgame hitless stretch has followed. He added another 99.6 mph groundout Monday and grounded into two double plays March 9 that both featured exit velocities above 98, but all three instances still ended with outs.

This offseason, Marte said, he focused on the exit velocity and tried to remain strong with his backside during swings. He flashed strides during the winter league games with Leones del Escogido, and that was when Barnes also realized that the ball kept “jumping off the bat.” It had some pop to it. When that didn’t happen in 2023, Barnes recalled thinking, “OK, what’s happening here,” then realizing that other layers — weight room numbers, bat speed, other metrics the coaching staff could monitor — had faltered, too.

While Marte’s average exit velocity jumped from 86.8 to 88.2, the number of hard-hit balls — an exit velocity of at least 95 mph — dipped from 125 to 98, according to FanGraphs, and “the explosive power wasn’t there,” Barnes said. The numbers were a bit deceiving.

“For whatever reason, I’m not the medical staff, but like something just didn’t quite feel right,” Barnes told The Post. “It wasn’t there.”

That, as of now, has changed this spring. The numbers are still deceiving, but this time, it’s different. Manager Carlos Mendoza agreed he has been encouraged with Marte’s atbats, citing a bases-loaded walk Tuesday — on a 3-2 pitch — that allowed the Mets to score their lone run. He’s “impacting the baseball,” Mendoza said. In control of the strike zone.

But the hits are still missing for now.

“He adds a five-tool player,” Lindor told The Post. “He can hit for power, he can hit for average. He can run bases. He can play good defense. He can throw. … A player that we already had that we didn’t have last year because of injury, and if he’s healthy this year, it should be electric.”