Exciting Newcomer Masataka Yoshida Absolutely Crushes First Home Run In Red Sox Uniform
Red Sox Nation certainly is going to love what it's going to see out of newcomer Masataka Yoshida.
The 29-year-old has made headlines all throughout the spring after putting together one of the best individual performances in the history of the World Baseball Classic. Yoshida set the record for the most RBIs in a single tournament with 13 and had multiple important home runs to help lead Team Japan to the title.
Yoshida signed with the Red Sox this offseason and has shown glimpses of brilliance with the club in Grapefruit League action ahead of the 2023 regular season. The outfielder continued his red-hot spring in Boston's spring finale Tuesday with his very first home run in a Red Sox uniform.
Yoshida stepped up to the plate in the first inning of Tuesday's contest with a man on third base and absolutely clubbed the second pitch he faced from two-time All-Star Charlie Morton well over the center field fence to give Boston an early lead.
The 29-year-old may be the most exciting player on the 2023 Red Sox outside of third baseman Rafael Devers. Yoshida spent the first seven years of his professional career in Japan with the Orix Buffaloes and developed into one of the best hitters in the Nippon Professional Baseball league.
He joined Boston this offseason and there already are extremely high expectations. Fangraphs even projects that Yoshida will lead the American League in batting average in 2023 at .299. Fangraphs thinks Yoshida will have such a solid season, that he will finished the 2023 season with 139 weighted runs created plus -- just one behind two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. The advanced statistic is a measurement of how many runs a player creates for a team while taking into account factors like stadium.
Yoshida has had an exciting spring so far and it won't be long before he's launching homers over at Fenway Park.
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