Ex-Yankees Masahiro Tanaka, Chris Gittens Are Now Teammates in Japan
As Chris Gittens transitions to playing professional baseball in Japan, he'll have a familiar face to help him adjust.
The first baseman, who briefly debuted with the Yankees this past season, posted on social media late Thursday night that he will play for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2022.
It just so happens that former Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka also plays for Rakuten, entering his second season in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball after seven years in the Bronx.
Sharing Gittens' post, Tanaka tweeted that he "can't wait" for Gittens to arrive, mixing in some fire emojis as well.
Gittens and Tanaka never shared the field together at the big-league level—Gittens made his MLB debut in June after seven years in New York's minor league system. But you have to figure their paths crossed at some point during spring training over the years.
The slugging first baseman participated in Yankees spring training for the first time in 2016 before three straight years at big-league camp from 2018 to 2020.
Even if those two never officially met, Tanaka can certainly serve as a resource for Gittens as he makes the jump from MLB to NPB next year.
In 16 games with the Yankees this year, Gittens hit .111 with one home run, five RBI and 13 strikeouts. He's previously excelled in the minors, though. Gittens hit .301 with 14 homers, 44 RBI and a 1.084 OPS over 45 career games in Triple-A. He was released by the Yankees last month to pursue an opportunity in Japan.
There had been some speculation that Tanaka could opt out of his contract in Japan to return to the United States, handling some "unfinished business" in Major League Baseball. Tanaka ended up returning to the Golden Eagles for another season.
Tanaka posted a 3.01 ERA over 23 games during his homecoming season with Rakuten, throwing 155.2 innings.
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