Japan’s ‘112.8 billion’ batter, compared to MVP before debut… “It means that we have high expectations.”

 Can Masataka Yoshida become a Boston star this season?

Yoshida joined the Boston Red Sox last year through the posting system. Yoshida, who wore the Orix Buffaloes uniform as the first pick in the 2015 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) rookie draft, played an active part in Orix from the 2016 season to the 2022 season. He recorded 762 games, 884 hits, 133 homers, 418 points, 467 RBIs, a batting average of 0.327, and an OPS of 0.960 in 7 seasons of NPB, and entered the major league stage. Yoshida signed a contract with Boston for 5 years and 90 million dollars (approximately 112.8 billion won).

American media ‘Sports Illustrated (SI)”s ‘Fan Nation’ posted an article on the 6th (Korean time), “Can Yoshida become Boston’s next star? Predicted to be an outfielder equivalent to former MVP.” The media said, “Boston’s most interesting transfer of the 2023 offseason was definitely the acquisition of star outfielder Yoshida from Japan.”

This media quoted the claim of David Adler of the US ‘MLB.com’. Adler said, “Boston poured $90 million to bring Yoshida. Because he comes from NPB even though he has no big league 메이저놀이터record, the statistics program ‘Steamer’ predicted that Yoshida would have high expectations.”

‘Steamer’ predicted Yoshida’s batting average to be 0.298 this season. It is the second highest batting average after Luis Araez (Minnesota Twins), and the on-base percentage was expected to be 0.388. He is second behind Juan Soto (San Diego Padres). ‘Steamer’ saw Yoshida’s expected OPS as 0.867. 10th among all hitters. We also predicted Yoshida’s adjusted scoring ability (wRC+) at 140. This is similar to Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies) and Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals). Harper is the National League MVP for the 2021 season and Goldschmidt is the 2022 season.

‘SI’ said, “Yoshida may not win the 2023 American League MVP. But the fact that he’s already being compared to the best in the league before playing in a single game for Boston shows how highly regarded he is.” “If Shida can get close to his projections for 2023, he’ll give Boston’s offense a significant upgrade. If Yoshida can live up to his projections, he could have a chance to be the best outfielder the team has had since Mookie Betts.”

“All the predictions are good and exciting, but we’ll have to wait until Yoshida plays in Boston to make a real judgment.”