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It’s an impromptu Christian Yelich trade package special. Danny, Ethan and Ian analyze the hot performances from Triple-A New Orleans Baby Cakes Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison and Isan Díaz. All three seem destined to join the Marlins active roster later this season (re-joining in Brinson’s case, MLB debuts for Harrison and Díaz). What else do they have left to prove in the minor leagues?
Coincidentally, right-hander Jordan Yamamoto—the “fourth piece” received for Yelich—was already lined up for an exclusive interview (19:52). Finishing off an impressive month of May for Double-A Jacksonville, he describes the collaborative culture in the Marlins organization (27:41) and why he serves as a barber to other minor league players (31:47), shares his unique perspective growing up in Hawaii (37:50) and much more.
Enjoy Episode 9 of ETS!
Aside from his main Instagram account (@jyamamoto_23), Yamamoto has another one dedicated entirely to his haircutting (@cutz_by_yama):
“It’s hard to find barbers or places to cut hair when you move to all these different cities throughout the nation. You’re not used to it and a lot of guys want to have that confidence in their haircut and all that stuff.
“Me learning just really helped out my teammates. I’m just here to really make it more of a convenience thing for them because I know how it is to not get paid all that much during the year, and then all of a sudden now, haircuts are $30 or $40 every two weeks, which is quite a bit for the minor league pay. I did it more for just helping my teammates out, helping the minor leaguers on that grind. That’s what I’m trying to do: build my platform of my haircutting page so that when I do visit different cities on the road, I have the teammates, or I have the players from the other team going, ‘Hey, can I get a cut?’
“It’s all for them.”
On the mound, Yamamoto has exceeded most evaluators’ expectations since the trade—the right-hander boasts a 2.55 earned run average in 123 1⁄3 innings pitched since then, including a 3.46 ERA and 51 K in 54.2 IP this season with Jacksonville. MLB Pipeline currently ranks him 17th among Marlins top prospects.
Already on the 40-man roster, Yamamoto figures to make his MLB debut in 2020.
The Fish Stripes podcast is home to Miami Marlins shows Fish Bites, Earning Their Stripes and A-Ball with Erik Oas. All new episodes are posted to FishStripes.com/podcasts. You can also find them on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Megaphone or wherever you normally get your pods from.
Follow Fish Stripes (@fishstripes), Danny (@all_right_Miami), Ethan (@GatorBait_Ethan) and Ian (@FlaSmitty) on Twitter. Full coverage here at FishStripes.com.