Masataka Yoshida looking extremely poised at plate to begin season
Former Nippon Professional Baseball star hit .308 in three-game series vs. Orioles to open season
While Masataka Yoshida might currently be best known as the guy whose fly ball wasn’t caught ahead of Adam Duvall’s walk-off home run on Saturday, there are plenty of reasons to believe that it won’t be too long before the 29-year-old rookie provides Red Sox fans with some more highlights that stick with them for awhile.
Yoshida has shown an incredible level of comfort at the plate through his first three games in Boston, going 4-for-13 (.308) with three RBIs, four runs and a walk while also being hit by a pitch.
But perhaps the most impressive trait that Yoshida has shown at the dish has been his plate discipline. He’s only struck out once in 15 plate appearances, and despite not flashing the power that he featured in Japan just yet, he always seems to provide a quality at-bat.
A perfect example of Yoshida’s ability to get the job done when called upon was his first at-bat Sunday, when he stepped into the box with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning. Despite not making solid contact, Yoshida avoided the double-play ball and was still able to manufacture Boston’s first run of the game.
But he wasn’t done there, as he also came through in the fifth when the stakes were even higher to give the Red Sox the lead after Baltimore had erased a 3-0 deficit.
It’s early in the season, but fans should be excited to watch Yoshida battle in the box for 162 games. Hopefully the power comes around at some point, but the grit is always going to be there, and that type of fight is exactly what this team is going to need if it wants to be make a deep October run.
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