At this point, the Red Sox must be hoping Masataka Yoshida saves some for the Major League Baseball regular season.
Any concerns about Boston’s new outfielder being away from the camp during spring training must be somewhat eased at this point, as Yoshida continues to have an incredible World Baseball Classic for Japan.
Yoshida provided an emphatic exclamation point on Japan’s quarterfinals matchup with Italy, hitting a towering home run to right field in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game in Tokyo.
The dinger was Yoshida’s second hit of the game, and it was his second run batted in after he pushed home Japan’s first run with a groundout in the third inning.
Yoshida has been a prolific run producer for the Japanese so far in the tournament. He drove in five runs in their win over South Korea, and the home run Thursday gave him a tournament-leading 10 RBIs.
Certainly, he’ll have to prove he can handle big league pitching on a consistent basis, but it must be encouraging for the Red Sox to see Yoshida perform in a high-stakes environment like this one. If Japan holds on to its commanding lead over the Italians, Yoshida would return to Florida with his countrymen for the WBC semifinals. That game is set for Monday night at loanDepot Park in Miami against either Puerto Rico or Mexico.
