Masataka Yoshida was seen spending part of Thursday’s spring training practice getting coached up by Boston Red Sox legend Jim Rice.
Rice and Yoshida, along with a translator, had a one-on-one session as the Hall of Famer tried to give the Red Sox newcomer some tips of the trade when it comes to playing left field at Fenway Park.
The Green Monster sure makes it a trickier assignment than most other ballparks in the big leagues and Yoshida got in some work fielding balls off the replica wall the Red Sox have at JetBlue Park, with Rice looking on and imparting his wisdom.
“Mainly what we tried to do is talk about the angles that you have here similar to Fenway Park,” Rice told NESN’s Tom Caron. “You’re talking about the angles as for as what the left fielder’s going to do and what the center fielder’s going to do. The key thing is communication.”
Rice said Yoshida was receptive to the exclusive instruction and the Hall of Famer understands the former Nippon Professional Baseball standout, who has impressed during the early parts of camp, will have to make more adjustments once he heads up north.
“I asked for a couple more balls, I think we only took about three or four and he got it,” Rice said. “He knew what he had to do in this amount of time of continuing to work on it because you work on it down here, then you go to Fenway, you have a different idea.
“If you look at the Fenway situation, the ball can be foul and can come back fair. Over here, you’re not going to have that kind of wind. So, it’s mainly just knowing the ballpark that you’re in. Once he gets to Fenway Park, he’ll realize it’s entirely different.”
Learning how to play at Fenway with the Green Monster looming behind him with be a vital skill for Yoshida as he’s known more for what he can do in the batter’s box instead of in the field.
Red Sox fans will get their first glimpse of Yoshida doing both when Boston opens up its spring training slate Friday with its annual matchup against Northeastern. The game scheduled for 1 p.m. ET can be seen on NESN.
