Chris Sale on Masataka Yoshida: ‘He’s been very, very impressive’
New Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida has been the talk of camp. Boston signed the Japanese outfielder to a five-year deal, worth $105.4 million, that includes the posting bonus. Yoshida reported the spring training earlier than required due to playing in the World Baseball Classic and he wanted to begin to assimilate himself to being in the United States.
While at Fenway South, his teammate Chris Sale has been impressed with Yoshida at the plate.
“His plate discipline is unbelievable,” Chris Sale told The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham. “He knows his zone very well it seems like. Not a lot of wasted movement. From what I’ve seen so far, he’s been very, very impressive. He’s going to be a spark plug, for sure.”
Yoshida is now back in Japan with his teammates for the World Baseball Classic exhibition games.
It’s unclear as to where manager Alex Cora will pencil in the 29-year-old, but the skipper knows he wants to separate Yoshida and Devers in the lineup.
“This whole thing about Yoshida leading off, I don’t know [how it started],” said Cora. “If I mentioned it, I didn’t mean to. He might lead off, but he might hit in the middle of the lineup. That's what he's done his whole career. So I think it's about personnel and who we have.”
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