David MacKinnon was one of only two batters — out of 636 — to hit a home run against Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto during the 2023 NPB season. The former Seibu Lions infielder looks back at that line drive to the left in Osaka on May 6 as, “a pretty cool memory to have.”
“I was like, dang, that's probably the best person I'll ever hit a homer off of,” he told The Japan Times on Friday.
MacKinnon, who played in MLB before his stint with Seibu, has seen the tremendous hype surrounding Yamamoto’s move to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He does not, however, need to pay much attention to it. He knows the hype is real because he knows how tough it is to face Yamamoto.