From the hot tub in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse. Yoshinobu Yamamoto I saw my translator going to take a shower.
Yamamoto called him.
“What colors are these?” – Yamamoto asked him.
Yoshihiro Sonoda, 48, wore only a pair of boxers that featured a rabbit with rainbow lasers shooting out of its eyes.
Sonoda sheepishly explained, “These are mine. shobu pantu“
I wore Sonoda for more than a year shobu pantu – or playing underwear – for each Yamamoto start.
Sonoda chuckled as he recalled the incident. Several weeks have passed since then, and the superstitious translator still wears his lucky boxers on the days when Yamamoto performs on the field.
When Yamamoto takes the mound for Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday in Game 2 World SeriesUnder the sweatpants released by the Sonoda team will be lasers in the shape of a bunny and rainbow colors.
The child is a little different.
Sonoda remembered thinking about this last year on the first day of spring training. On the grass field next to the players' parking lot, he watched Yamamoto throw javelins as part of his training.
When the Japanese right-hander finished, Sonoda began to collect the shells.
Yamamoto stopped him.
“Please, you are my translator,” he said. -You are not my servant.
Yamamoto picked up his darts and carried them back to the clubhouse.
In the following months, Sonoda noticed how Yamamoto treated others. He wasn't only kind to other players. He also treated the rank and file of the organization with integrity.
“He pretends not to look, but he does,” Sonoda said. “He doesn’t seem to be listening, but he is listening.”
Every day when the Dodgers are on the road, Yamamoto delivers coffee from Starbucks to the team hotel. He always orders something for Sonoda.
“I think Yamamoto is a real gentleman, a very honorable person,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He treats everyone, from Hiro to me and all the support staff, with the utmost respect.”
After two days of working as a translator, Yamamoto Sonoda wanted to resign.
A former top collegiate judoka in Japan, Sonoda has spent the last two decades I work in the entertainment industry as a lighting designer, his credits include Men in Black, The Amazing Spider-Man, Legacy and Nurse Jackie.
He had no experience as a translator and was by no means a baseball expert. He was separated from his wife, who remained in his native Texas.
“I don’t want to leave, but I can’t do it,” Sonoda told travel secretary Scott Akasaki.
Akasaki, who was once a translator Hideo Nomoasked Sonoda to reconsider his decision.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, left, speaks to reporters with his interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda at a news conference before Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS against the San Diego Padres.
(Ashley Landis/Associated Press)
“You can learn about baseball if you study it,” Sonoda remembers Akasaki saying. “But Yoshinobu chose you for a reason, and no other person has that.”
Sonoda never shared his insecurities with Yamamoto, instead throwing himself into his work. He was taught how to interpret ball tracking data by assistant pitching coach Connor McGuinness and performance manager Tyler Duncan. He consulted with experienced translators, including Shingo Hori of the San Diego Padres and Hiro Fujiwara of the New York Mets.
Last year at World Series media day, Yamamoto was asked about Sonoda.
“We were both new this year,” Yamamoto said. “Sonoda-san Moreover, he came from a different industry, and I think he suffered a lot of difficulties. But he didn’t make it clear that this was the case.”
Standing next to Yamamoto, Sonoda held back tears.
Sonoda has a small notebook in which he keeps track of every pitch Yamamoto makes. During a night game in Baltimore last month, Sonoda took notes as usual, recording the types of pitches and their locations.
Yamamoto walked a no-hitter in the ninth inning.
With two outs, Sonoda had Shohei Ohtani on one side of him and coach Yosuke Nakajima on the other.
Sonoda stopped taking notes.
“I thought I should get ready to celebrate,” he said.
Jackson Holliday scored and the no-hitter disappeared.
Sonoda blamed himself.
“If only I had taken notes on this fight…” he said.
Sonoda has been a significantly better interpreter this season than last season. On the way to Dodger Stadium, he listens to audio of Hori interpreting Yu Darvish, or Fujiwara for Kodai Sengi.
Yamamoto noticed.
“His efforts in the shadows were so that I could feel them,” Yamamoto said. “He's a very pure and straightforward person. I think he's really wonderful.”
Last year, Sonoda received a set of national park-themed underwear from his wife, who knew of his love of the outdoors. The Yellowstone Park pair featured a roaring bear that reminded Sonoda of Yamamoto screaming on the mound. Sonoda began wearing boxers on days when Yamamoto was pitching, and switched to a different pair for his next start if he lost or played poorly.
A new set of underwear was required for the new season, but due to insufficient support while running, Sonoda abandoned the pair he wore in training. Dodgers World Series run last year the ones with the bunny emitting a rainbow.
“I’m very superstitious,” Sonoda said.
Sonoda is also grateful.
“I think there are 14 or 15 Japanese translators in the major leagues,” he said. “I feel the happiest.”
Blessed because Akasaki talked him out of retirement. He was blessed with the baseball education he received from McGuinness and Duncan. He is happy because he has mentors like Horie and Fujiwara. And above all, he was lucky because he was paired with a player he considers as good a person as he is a pitcher, a man with a strong character for whom he would wear shiny underwear if it could improve his condition.
