Japanese phenom Yamamoto joins Ohtani on Dodgers with $325M US contract: reports

Prized free-agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a $325 million US, 12-year contract, according to multiple reports.

Yamamoto is set to join Japanese countryman Shohei Ohtani with the Dodgers, who signed the two-way superstar to a record $700 million, 10-year deal last week.

The Dodgers did not confirm the agreement with Yamamoto on Thursday night. MLB.com and ESPN were among the outlets citing anonymous sources in reporting the deal.

It's the third major pitching coup for the NL West champion Dodgers this offseason. In addition to Ohtani, the team signed right-hander Tyler Glasnow to a $136.5 million, five-year contract after he was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to Los Angeles.

Ohtani made a video pitch to Glasnow to join him in Hollywood.

"It was important to Shohei that this wasn't the one move we were going to make," Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said at Ohtani's introductory news conference last week.

Yamamoto was 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA this season, striking out 169 and walking 28 in 164 innings. He is 70-29 with a 1.82 ERA in seven seasons with the Orix Buffaloes. Yamamoto struck out a Japan Series-record 14 in a Game 6 win over Hanshin on Nov. 5, throwing a 138-pitch complete game. Orix went on to lose Game 7.

Orix posted the 25-year-old right-hander on Nov. 20 and Major League Baseball teams had until Jan. 4 to sign him.

Yamamoto's deal with the Dodgers would be the largest and longest ever guaranteed to a big league pitcher.

Ohtani was a two-time AL MVP with the Los Angeles Angels before becoming a free agent this offseason and moving to the Dodgers.

Yamamoto pitched his second career no-hitter, the 100th in Japanese big league history, on Sept. 9