When the Red Sox took the diamond to begin the 2023 Major League Baseball season, all eyes were on Masataka Yoshida and his five-year $90 million contract. Would the rookie live up to the hype?
In the first 13 games of his MLB career, it looked like the hype may have been overstated. Yoshida had one home run with a meager .167/.310/.250 batting line. But the Yoshida we have seen since April 20 is everything that was expected and more.
The left fielder seemed to have a lot of pressure on him to bat clean up to start the season. Since Red Sox manager Alex Cora adjusted the lineup, things have been going well for Yoshida as well as the rest of the Boston hitters.
“Going into the last homestand. We put Masataka, (Justin) Turner and (Alex) Verdugo in front of (Rafael Devers) just to see if we can create enough traffic or enough pressure, traffic veracity and pressure on the opposing starter and he has worked the quality of the bats of Alex, Masataka and Turner,” Cora told WEEI’s Andy Gresh and Christian Fauria. “They’re great, usually it’s a long at-bat to get the pitch count up most of the time to get on base, and then Rafi obviously is one swing away from giving us the lead.”
It seemed to have worked because while Yoshida just had his MLB-best hitting streak halted at 16 games, the rookie phenom from Japan has slashed a .438/.479/.750 line with five homers.
“We’ve been very happy not only with the performance of Masataka but I think the adjustments in the clubhouse the way he’s going about his business adding a few things that we believe will make them better,” Cora said. “And so far it’s been more than good. It’s been outstanding.”
Yoshida, the ninth Japanese player to suit up for the Red Sox, loves playing at Fenway Park and was named the American League Player of the Week on Monday for the six games he played from May 1 to May 7.
Yoshida and the Red Sox will look to snap their two-game losing streak and avoid the sweep in Atlanta when they face the Braves at Truist Park at 7:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
