[ad_1]
The Boston Red Sox and outfielder Masataka Yoshida have agreed to a five-year, $90 million deal, per multiple reports. Here’s what you need to know:
- Yoshida, 29, has played in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league since 2016.
- The 5-foot-8 left-handed hitter slashed .335/.447/.561 with 21 home runs in 119 games last season.
- Boston will have to pay a $15.4 million posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes as part of the deal, according to multiple reports.
Scouting report
Yoshida made his NPB debut with the Buffaloes in 2016 and immediately produced. Over the last five years, he has never finished a season with an OPS below .950.
“His consistency was just unreal,” Stefen Romero, a former Onix outfielder and current MLB free agent, told The Athletic last month.
“He’s a contact hitter first and foremost. He puts the ball in play. He’s very, very clutch. When you need a hit or you need to drive somebody in, he comes up in those situations. He doesn’t apply pressure to himself. Pitchers felt that presence and made mistakes. And he rarely misses a mistake. In a very crucial situation in front of 30,000 and 40,000 fans in Japan, he would always come through and I feel like that will transition very well here in the United States.”
Yoshida will be the second Japanese-born position player to play for the Red Sox, per ESPN Stats & Info. The other is current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Required reading
(Photo: Yukihito Taguchi / USA Today)
[ad_2]
