Last season, it was evident that Masataka Yoshida had reached a mental impasse during the second part of the game.
After 78 games, Yoshida had a.316 average,.874 OPS, and 10 home runs. However, in the 68 games that followed the All-Star break, his numbers fell to a.254 average,.663 OPS, and five home runs. Yoshida did, however, end the season with the sixth-best OPS+ on the team (109), indicating an above-average rookie MLB season.
Yoshida has talked about the difficulties of moving to Major League Baseball (MLB), including learning about the pitchers in the league as well as the travel and time zone adjustments, grass vs. turf outfields, and the lack of dome stadiums compared to Japan.
“I didn’t get to experience the time difference in Japan,” Yoshida recently remarked via interpreter Yutaro Yamaguchi. That was a novel experience for me. We also use public transit in Japan. Private and charter aircraft are handled here. That was something different, then. We occasionally flew to Boston early in the morning after the game, so that was another novel experience.
Even though the modifications appear minor, Yoshida was probably going to refers to leaving the game immediately after rather than the next morning. Aside from the unicorn Shohei Ohtani, it is typical for Japanese athletes to have some difficulties in their first major league campaign.
In his first season in the United States in 2022, Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs hit.262 with a.770 OPS; however, in his second season the previous year, he recorded a.285 average and a.842 OPS. In his debut season in 2020, Yoshi Tsutsugo hit.197 with a.708 OPS; however, he improved slightly in 2021 with a.243 average and a.804 OPS.
Yoshida is expected to have a better season than last year, when he finished hitting.295, with an OPS of.813, 16 home runs, and 117 OPS+, according to the 2024 FanGraphs ZiPS forecasts.
.289 with 15 home runs, 109 OPS+, and a.783 OPS.
Yoshida spent a significant portion of his offseason building muscle and endurance in order to better prepare for the longer and more demanding major league schedule. Yoshida experienced shoulder soreness towards the close of the previous season, thus the program included a specific buildup for shoulder strength. At different times during the winter, the Red Sox dispatched three Japanese members of their training staff to Japan to work with Yoshida.
