Starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers has been voted the National League Pitcher of the Month for September, and starting pitcher Max Fried of the New York Yankees has been named the American League Pitcher of the Month for September. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Yamamoto earned his second career honor after being recognized earlier this year for March/April, becoming the first Dodger since Clayton Kershaw in 2014 (June/July) to win multiple awards in a single season. Born in Bizen, Japan, Yamamoto is one of five Japanese-born pitcher to win the award (nine times total), joining fellow countrymen Yu Darvish (2x, July/August 2020 & September/October 2022); Hideki Irabu (May 1998 & July 1999); Hideo Nomo (2x, June 1995 and September 1996); and Masahiro Tanaka (May 2014). Fried earned his third career honor and also his second of the season after winning alongside Yamamoto for March/April, becoming the first Yankees hurler to win the award twice in a single season. Fried also won as a member of the Atlanta Braves in September 2021. Along with Aaron Judge’s honor as Player of the Month, it is the 54th time a club has earned Player and Pitcher of the Month in a single month and the third time this season, joining the Yankees in March/April and the Milwaukee Brewers in August (Brice Turang/Freddy Peralta).
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers (@yoshinobu_yamamoto)
Across four starts, the 27-year-old went 1-0 with a 0.67 ERA (2 ER/27.0 IP) while allowing seven hits with 11 walks, 34 strikeouts, a 0.67 WHIP, a .081 opponents’ batting average and 11.33 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
The Japan native led the Majors in ERA, opponents’ batting average and WHIP; tied for 12th in strikeouts; and was one of 10 qualified pitchers to remain undefeated.
The 2025 All-Star opened his month with back-to-back starts in which he allowed just one hit, one run and racked up 10 strikeouts, following a 10-strikeout performance on the final day of August. He carried a no-hit bid into the ninth inning on September 6th at Baltimore, coming within one out of history before Jackson Holliday hit a solo home run that sparked an Orioles’ comeback.
The 2024 World Series Champion became the first pitcher across the Majors to deal at least 7.0 innings with at least 10 strikeouts and one-or-zero runs allowed in at least three consecutive games since Max Scherzer from June 19-July 6, 2019. Of the 23 such streaks in Baseball history, Yamamoto’s stretch from August 31st-September 12th is the only one in which the pitcher did not record a win. Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 10 strikeouts in three straight starts since his rotationmate Clayton Kershaw from June 29-July 9, 2017.
The right-hander became the sixth Dodgers pitcher with at least 25.0 innings pitched in a single month with an ERA and WHIP under 0.70 in the last 100 years, joining Hyun Jin Ryu (0.59 ERA/0.68 WHIP in May 2019); Kershaw (0.27 ERA/0.64 WHIP in July 2015); Burt Hooton (0.58 ERA/0.55 WHIP in August 1981); Hall of Famer Don Sutton (0.55 ERA/0.67 WHIP in April 1972); and Jesse Petty (0.47 ERA/0.63 WHIP in April 1926).
With his sixth strikeout on September 25th, he became the first Dodgers pitcher with a 200-strikeout season since Walker Buehler had 212 strikeouts in 2021. Yamamoto became the seventh Japanese-born pitcher with a 200-strikeout season, joining Yu Darvish (4x: 2012, 2013, 2017 & 2019); Hideo Nomo (4x: 1995, 1996, 1997 & 2001); Yusei Kikuchi (2024); Daisuke Matsuzaka (2007); his teammate Shohei Ohtani (2022); and Kodai Senga (2023). Yamamoto logged 17 starts in which he allowed one-or-zero runs this season, tied with Cristopher Sánchez, Hunter Brown and Tarik Skubal for the second-most in the Majors behind only Freddy Peralta and Paul Skenes, who each had 18 such starts.
Max Fried, New York Yankees (@maxfried)
Across five starts, the 31-year-old went 5-0 with a 1.89 ERA (7 ER/33.1 IP) while allowing 26 hits with nine walks, 35 strikeouts, a 1.05 WHIP, a .213 opponents’ batting average and 9.45 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
The Santa Monica, California native paced the Majors in wins; tied for first in innings pitched; ranked fifth in ERA; tied for ninth in strikeouts; and ranked ninth in the AL in WHIP.
The three-time All-Star tallied a win in each of his five starts and won each of his final six games of the year dating back to August 27th, tying the longest winning streak of his career, set earlier this year from April 4th-May 2nd. He is the first Yankees starter with multiple winning streaks of at least six games in a single season since Hall of Famer CC Sabathia in 2010.
Fried’s 19 wins were the most in Baseball this season, marking the first time a Yankee pitcher has led the Majors in wins since Sabathia tied Hall of Famer Roy Halladay with 21 wins in 2010. It is the first time a New York pitcher has led the Majors outright in wins since Jimmy Key had 17 wins in 1994.
The 2021 World Series Champion with Atlanta tied a career high with 13 strikeouts on September 18th at Baltimore, matching his best from June 4, 2024 at Boston. He became the first Yankee to tally at least 13 strikeouts in a start of at least 7.0 scoreless innings since Gerrit Cole had 13 strikeouts in 7.0 scoreless frames on April 6, 2021 against Baltimore.
The three-time Rawlings Gold Glover became the first Yankee southpaw to earn at least five wins and tally at least 35 strikeouts in a calendar month since James Paxton in August 2019 (6-0, 44 SO). He is just the 10th Yankee all-time (15th occurrence) with at least 35 strikeouts, at least five wins and no losses in a single month and the first since his rotationmate Luis Gil went 6-0 with 44 strikeouts last May.
The seventh overall pick in the 2012 Draft (by SD) dealt at least 7.0 innings in four of his five starts, with his 13 starts of at least 7.0 innings tying Cristopher Sánchez and Tarik Skubal for second-most in the Majors this year behind only Garrett Crochet’s 14 starts of at least 7.0 innings. New York went 12-1 in contests that Fried threw at least 7.0 innings, with the only loss being a 2-0 defeat on June 15th against Boston.
Others receiving votes for NL Pitcher of the Month included Hunter Greene (2-0, 2.64 ERA, 5 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 30.2 IP, 16 H, 10 BB, 38 SO) of the Cincinnati Reds; All-Star Paul Skenes (1-1, 1.31 ERA, 4 GS, 20.2 IP, 15 H, 4 BB, 29 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; and Cristopher Sánchez (2-0, 1.65 ERA, 5 GS, 32.2 IP, 22 H, 3 BB, 31 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Others receiving votes for AL Pitcher of the Month included Tanner Bibee (3-0, 1.30 ERA, 4 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 27.2 IP, 16 H, 5 BB, 26 SO) and rookie Joey Cantillo (2-0, 1.55 ERA, 5 GS, 29.0 IP, 20 H, 6 BB, 28 SO) of the Cleveland Guardians; and Kevin Gausman (2-1, 2.78 ERA, 5 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 32.1 IP, 29 H, 7 BB, 32 SO) of the Toronto Blue Jays.