Where’s Masataka Yoshida? The left fielder remains out of the Red Sox starting lineup
Masataka Yoshida has not been penciled into the Red Sox starting lineup for four straight games. The Japanese outfielder remained out of the lineup for Boston’s series finale in Cleveland.
Yoshida’s last start came on Saturday, when the team was in Pittsburgh. Since then, he has been absent from the starting lineup, leaving fans wondering why he’s not playing.
Alex Cora told reporters on Wednesday that not having Yoshida in the lineup has more to do with the returns of Rafael Devers and Tyler O’Neill. Boston utilized O’Neill and Devers at DH in their return to the lineup.
On Thursday, Yoshida was expected to get the start as the DH in the series finale in Cleveland. Unfortunately, due to Devers feeling sore after playing third base on Wednesday, Cora decided to DH him and sit Yoshida.
“(Yoshida’s) an everyday DH, man. I don’t know what the big deal is,” Cora told reporters from Progressive Field, per MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “O’Neill had to DH yesterday. Raffy had to DH today. He’ll DH tomorrow. I don’t get it. It just happens that (O’Neill) came out of the IL and Raffy can’t play third today. So he’s not DH-ing. Our outfield is O’Neill, (Wilyer) Abreu and (Jarren) Duran. Yesterday and today, he was ready to play but we can’t play him. How do you see it?”
Cora has not liked the second guessing from the media as to why Yoshida continues to sit.
“Honestly, that one bothers me because it’s very simple,” Cora said. “If you look at the lineup and where we’re at roster-wise, I cannot have two DH’s. I wish. I wish I had three. Sorry about that. That one, I don’t know the angle or what we’re trying to accomplish here. But for me, I’m very fair with you guys as far as like being honest, and letting you guys know what’s happened in the clubhouse and that one, it’s throwing me off, to be honest with you.”
The 30-year-old was a pinch-hitter in the Red Sox's 6-4 loss to Cleveland on Thursday. He went 0-for-1 with a groundout in the game.
Yoshida is slashing .233/.317/.342/.659 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in 22 games. His bat showed some signs of life when he went 3-for-4 with a home run in Pittsburgh. Over the last 10 games he’s played, Yoshida is 4-for-21 (.190 AVG) with two homers, four RBIs, and .476 slugging percentage.
With the likes of Rob Refsnyder and Wilyer Abreu both making an impact in the Red Sox lineup and the return of Devers and O’Neill, Yoshida looks to be the odd man out.
