ESPN REPORT;Masataka Yoshida announce that he will be leaving Red Sox tomorrow
Macho Man poised for breakout sophomore campaign
This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — In his sophomore season with the Red Sox — and in the United States — Masataka Yoshida’s goal is to improve his stamina so he can finish the same way he starts.
That wasn’t the case last season, even though his rookie year wasn’t so bad. In 140 games (580 plate appearances), Yoshida had a batting line of .289/.338/.445 with 15 homers and 72 RBIs.
On Aug. 1, he was slashing .306/.367/.484 with 12 homers and 53 RBIs. From there, his line dropped to .251/.271/.363, with three homers and 19 RBIs in his final 171 at-bats.
But now, Yoshida has a full year under his belt of adapting to a new culture, getting to know his teammates and knowing what to expect through the rigors of a Major League season.
In hindsight, it’s easy to see why Yoshida wore down over the final two months of last year. Admirably, he was one of the first players to report to Spring Training in 2023 because he wanted to get a jump-start on adjusting to things before going back to Japan for the start of the World Baseball Classic.
