The Red Sox made a particularly big splash over the Major League Baseball offseason, and they're seeing early returns on the investment.
After a very successful Nippon Professional Baseball tenure, Masataka Yoshida made a jump to MLB in December when he signed a five-year deal with Boston that's reportedly worth $105.4 million. Yoshida initially dealt with the struggles you'd expect after such a major career change, but he's since taken off. The Japanese will enter Sunday's series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies riding a 15-game hit streak, the longest active streak in the big leagues.
The red-hot Red Sox, winners of eight straight, were spotted light by respected MLB insider Buster Olney on Sunday morning's "SportsCenter." And as Olney heaped praise on Boston, the ESPN reporter included a nugget on why other teams chose to not take their interest in Yoshida to the finish line back in the winter.
"In the last eight games, they've (Red Sox) averaged about 7.5 runs per game. During that time, hitting .341. And nobody in baseball is hotter than Masataka Yoshida, their left fielder. In the last 15 games, he's hitting .433 with a .787 slugging percentage. This is someone who other teams passed on because they didn't think his defense was going to be good enough. Look, I think anybody would take him the way he's hitting right now."
Is Yoshida going to win one of the three Gold Glove Awards given out to American League outfielders this season? Probably not. But he's making all the routine plays in left field for Boston and his defense hasn't been a liability to his new club. And even if Yoshida's glove was below average, his bat would make up for those shortcomings.
Yoshida will try to stay hot at the dish at Citizens Bank Park where the Red Sox will try to extend their win streak to nine before heading off to Atlanta.
