Can pitching in the major leagues really be as easy as Jordan Yamamoto is making it seem these days?

Convention — and more than a century of history — answers with a resounding “no,” but the way Yamamoto has introduced himself to the big leagues has, so far at least, said something else entirely.

The Saint Louis School graduate is just the second pitcher since 1893 whose first two career outings were scoreless starts against the same team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

And he is the first pitcher since at least 1908 to begin his career with consecutive outings of seven or more innings pitched, no runs and three or fewer hits, according to BaseballReference.com.

Maybe Yamamoto’s start-up mastery from the mound and baseball’s resulting need to delve into the dusty archives to put it in perspective will change today at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, where he is listed as the scheduled starter for Miami against the Phillies.

Perhaps Bryce Harper, the Phillies’ $25.4 million-a-year man, will be able to do what nobody on the Cardinals roster could manage over 14 innings, and put up a run against the 23-year-old rookie.

But darned if Yamamoto hasn’t given us plenty to marvel at while making a name for himself just 12 days out of Double-A ball.

Jose Urena’s herniated disc presented a roster opening and Yamamoto has seized the opportunity to perform what can almost be classified as prestidigitation.

One week he is pitching for the Jacksonville (Fla.) Jumbo Shrimp against the Montgomery (Ala.) Biscuits and the next he is slicing up the Cardinals, one of the game’s storied franchises, as if they were, well, an ILH junior varsity team.

Beginner’s luck? Undoubtedly there was some of that, but what Yamamoto has going for him has been a remarkable ability to intuitively juggle and precisely place a five-pitch repertoire. The fastball is good, but what is bedeviling is both the assortment of pitches and the command.

All this while maintaining a cool and composed demeanor that has belied his age and experience. As Marlins manager Don Mattingly likes to put it, “He’s a pretty chill kid.”

A second time through a lineup in his debut often catches up with a rookie pitcher. The equivalent of five times over the two starts still couldn’t do it for the frustrated Cardinals.

Leave it to Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong from Hilo to put Yamamoto’s performance in perspective. “Hats off to the kid. He’s staying out of the middle of the zone. Honestly, he’s not really giving us anything to hit,” Wong told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Wong added, “We don’t play this game to (stink). He came back with the same game plan and executed again, so you have to tip your hat at some point and understand he’s out there pitching his butt off and doing it really, really well.”

Until this month Yamamoto’s claim to fame in the Marlins organization had been that he was part of the haul of prospects from the 2018 deal that sent Christian Yelich, the eventual National League MVP that season, to Milwaukee. Even then Yamamoto was largely viewed as the fourth prospect in the trade.

Only 9.9 percent of players drafted in rounds 12 through 20 even make an appearance in the big leagues, according to the Society of American Baseball Research. Yamamoto, a 12th-round selection of the Brewers in 2014, has done more than just appear and, in doing so, continues to spit Gatorade at the odds by making it look so easy.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.