Teacher Shiori Duenas introduces Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Evan Phillips to the students, who all wore Dodgers gear for the occasion.
RAFU STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
GARDENA —?Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Evan Phillips on Aug. 20 visited Amestoy S.T.E.A.M. Academy Multilingual /Multicultural Magnet and Dual Language Japanese Elementary School in Gardena where they read to children in Japanese and English.
The visit was part of the L.A. Reads literacy program and was organized as part of the Dodgers Foundation’s community service activities. The foundation has four main focus areas in its working structure: education, social justice, homelessness and health care. Their most credited works to this are Dodgers Dream Team, L.A. Reads, Science of Baseball, Dodgers Dreamfield, In This Together, and College Career Accelerator
Amestoy, located on 149th Street and Berendo Avenue in Gardena, was the first L.A. Unified School District school selected for Japanese immersion.
“The children listened carefully and I found it an uplifting experience interacting with them,” Yamamoto said.
The 26-year-old right-hander has been sidelined since mid-June with a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder and is aiming to return to big-league action by September.
He took pitching practice at Dodger Stadium later in the day and was set to throw in a live-game situation Wednesday for the second time since his injury, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
The night before, his teammate Phillips picked up his 16th save of the season in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win against the Seattle Mariners. The closer said that he often felt nervous when he was in school and that making friends helped.
“I was more nervous before that, but my first day, I had to go to school, so I was ready to make new friends and meet people, and for me, because I love baseball, I tried to find people and meet people that like baseball as much as I do, and that way, it was easy for me to make friends, and then, you know, within a few days, I had some friends that I’m still friends with today,” Phillips said.
Yamamoto said his teammates have helped him get used to being in the U.S.
“I came from Japan to the U.S. this year. I couldn’t speak the language, but my teammates helped me a lot. I was able to get used to it.”