Masataka Yoshida Signed With the Red Sox

By Mike Gray

December 7, 2022

All of the speculation and waiting has come to an end because Masataka Yoshida signed with the Boston Red Sox. The contract is for five years and totals $90 million. However, with the posting fee due to his former team, the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), of $15.4M, the total cost to Boston is $105.4M. Yoshida is another huge signing out of Japan that has seen a long line of very good players before him. This list includes the likes of, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka, Shohei Ohtani, and many more.

The Red Sox wasted no time in signing Yoshida, signing him on the very day he was posted. A lot of teams were very interested in signing Masataka Yoshida, and his posting was highly anticipated. The Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, and even the New York Yankees were reported as likely landing spots for the leadoff man, with Boston as kind of a “dark horse.” Nevertheless, Masataka Yoshida signed with that dark horse.

Yoshida’s Career Stats

Register Batting
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2017	23		2 Teams		69	284	242	45	74	11	0	13	40	1	1	40	36	.306	.405	.512	.917
2018	24	-3.9	Orix		143	598	514	77	165	37	2	26	86	3	1	69	74	.321	.403	.553	.956
2019	25	-2.9	Orix		143	610	521	92	168	24	2	29	85	5	1	79	64	.323	.413	.543	.956
2020	26	-2.0	Orix		120	492	408	55	143	22	1	14	64	8	5	72	29	.351	.453	.512	.966
2021	27		2 Teams		112	460	393	61	132	22	1	21	72	0	0	59	26	.336	.426	.557	.983
2022	28		2 Teams		121	515	417	57	140	28	1	21	89	4	0	82	42	.336	.449	.559	1.007
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Fore	Fore	Fore	Fore		781	3251	2759	425	900	164	7	135	474	21	10	427	307	.326	.419	.538	.957
NPB	NPB	NPB	NPB		762	3189	2703	418	884	161	7	133	467	21	10	421	300	.327	.421	.539	.960
All	All	All	All		781	3251	2759	425	900	164	7	135	474	21	10	427	307	.326	.419	.538	.957

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/7/2022.

What Masataka Yoshida Did Before He Signed

In his seven career seasons in the NPB, Yoshida batted .327/.421/.539 with 133 homers and 467 RBI. The most impressive stat of them all is his 421 walks against only 300 strikeouts. There are not very many players who can boast of a walks-to-strikeout differential of plus 121 walks. This alone makes him a premium option at the top of the Red Sox lineup–adding some pop to the top with his 161 doubles and 133 homers. However, success in Japan does not always translate to success in MLB, but it often does, so it will be very exciting to watch him as he makes that transition.

Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images

Players Mentioned:

Masataka Yoshida, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka, Shohei Ohtani