Masataka Yoshida

Masataka Yoshida

31-Year-Old DHDH
Boston Red Sox
Out
Injury Shoulder
Est. Return 2/1/2025
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Yoshida got caught in a numbers game in 2024 - too many lefty hitters, too many left fielders - and was a DH for all but one game. An early thumb injury had him seeking second and third opinions, and he underwent shoulder surgery following the season. In between, Yoshida was a serviceable contact hitter, slashing .280/.349/.415 with 10 home runs, 56 RBI and a 12.4 strikeout percentage. Two years into a five-year deal, the Red Sox are realizing Yoshida is not only limited defensively but doesn't hit for power, despite a higher fly-ball percentage and launch angle in 2024. He also experienced a significant drop-off against lefties, falling from a .746 OPS to .565. Boston's involvement in the failed pursuit of Juan Soto suggests the club wants a more powerful roster, particularly from the right side, and a more functional one, where manager Alex Cora can rotate players at DH. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
From Preseason
$Signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the Red Sox in December of 2022.
Undergoes shoulder surgery
DHBoston Red Sox
Shoulder
October 16, 2024
Yoshida underwent surgery Oct. 3 to repair a labral tear in his right shoulder, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
The hope is that Yoshida will be ready in time for Opening Day, although it's not clear how limited, if at all, he will be during spring training. Yoshida slashed .280/.349/.415 with 10 home runs over 108 games for Boston this season as its full-time designated hitter.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
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2023 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
6
17
7
20
32
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
11
5
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+21%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+47%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+7%
OPS vs RHP
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .669 252 21 5 33 1 .239 .317 .351
Since 2022vs Right .810 749 95 20 95 9 .300 .351 .459
2024vs Left .565 108 7 2 14 0 .191 .278 .287
2024vs Right .832 313 38 8 42 2 .310 .374 .458
2023vs Left .746 144 14 3 19 1 .273 .347 .398
2023vs Right .795 436 57 12 53 7 .293 .335 .460
2022vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+10%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+6%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+13%
OPS at Home
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .814 484 66 10 63 5 .300 .360 .455
Since 2022Away .740 517 50 15 65 5 .272 .327 .413
2024Home .786 206 24 4 27 1 .292 .359 .427
2024Away .744 215 21 6 29 1 .269 .340 .404
2023Home .834 278 42 6 36 4 .306 .360 .475
2023Away .736 302 29 9 36 4 .273 .318 .418
2022Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Masataka Yoshida compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.52
 
BB Rate
6.4%
 
K Rate
12.4%
 
BABIP
.302
 
ISO
.135
 
AVG
.280
 
OBP
.349
 
SLG
.415
 
OPS
.765
 
wOBA
.340
 
Exit Velocity
88.0 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
32.6%
 
Barrels/PA
4.3%
 
Expected BA
.258
 
Expected SLG
.394
 
Sprint Speed
22.9 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
42.7%
 
Line Drive %
21.6%
 
Fly Ball %
35.7%
 
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
Yoshida's first season in MLB came mostly as advertised. His exceptional contact rate carried over, but the rest of his game is still a work in progress. Yoshida recorded ample homers and steals to have reasonable hopes he improves in his second season. An area he can improve immediately is on-base skills. In Japan, Yoshida routinely posted double-digit walk rates, but he worked a free pass just 5.9% of the time in his rookie campaign. Only six of his 15 homers came at home, though 21 of his 33 doubles were in Fenway Park. This makes sense since Yoshida's flyball rate was just 26.9 percent. He swiped eight bases, but wasn't caught, suggesting he could run a little more. Yoshida's defense in left field was below par, which is an issue since his bat doesn't play as a full-time designated hitter. Still, Boston will continue to play Yoshida nearly every day, sitting him against some southpaws despite displaying limited platoon splits. He offers a strong batting average floor, with 20 homers and 15 stolen base upside.
Yoshida's appeal to the Red Sox, who signed him to a five-year, $90 million deal, likely centered around his ability to make contact. Across seven NPB seasons, the outfielder struck out just 9.4 percent of the time and hit .327. Those numbers were even better last year, when he rode an 8.1 K% to a .335/.447/.561 slash line and helped the Orix Buffaloes to a title. That contact ability should help him produce a solid or better average against MLB pitching, but whether he'll do enough else to live up to that free agent contract remains a question, as he offers very little with his glove and legs. His outstanding on-base ability could get him there, as he finished second among qualified NPB hitters in both strikeout rate and walk rate (15.7%) last season. He also has decent enough power, averaging 22 homers across the last five years, but it's possible he is more of a 10-to-15 homer guy against MLB pitching. His contract guarantees him significant playing time early on with Boston, but Yoshida is not a sure thing beyond his ability to hit for a high average.
More Fantasy News
May have shoulder surgery
DHBoston Red Sox
Shoulder
September 29, 2024
Yoshida may have right shoulder surgery soon, Carlos Yamazaki of Tokyo Sports Press reports.
ANALYSIS
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Out of lineup
DHBoston Red Sox
September 29, 2024
Yoshida is not in the starting lineup for Sunday's game against Tampa Bay, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Absent from lineup
DHBoston Red Sox
September 28, 2024
Yoshida isn't in the Red Sox's lineup for Saturday's game against Tampa Bay.
ANALYSIS
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Taking seat Monday
DHBoston Red Sox
September 23, 2024
Yoshida is not in the lineup for Monday's contest in Toronto.
ANALYSIS
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Sitting against righty
DHBoston Red Sox
September 20, 2024
Yoshida is absent from the lineup for Friday's game against the Twins.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Possible swap for Arenado?
DHBoston Red Sox
December 12, 2024
Yoshida, who underwent shoulder surgery in October, could be used by the Red Sox as part of a trade package to acquire Nolan Arenado from the Cardinals, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.
ANALYSIS
Abraham notes that Yoshida and Arenado have a comparable amount of money left on their contracts, once you subtract the $10 million the Rockies are covering of Arenado's deal. The problem is that the Cardinals have said trading Arenado would be done largely for financial relief, so taking on a similar contract of a lesser player wouldn't make much sense from their perspective. Boston will surely need to eat a large portion of Yoshida's contract in order to move the 31-year-old.
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