“He can hit up to 45 home runs in a year.”
This is the one-season performance of outfielder Masataka Yoshida (30) expected by Boston Red Sox’s “legend” Jim Rice (70). In an interview with Sports Hochi, a Japanese sports magazine, Rice, who is inducted into the Hall of Fame, praised him saying, “Although he is small, his lower body is solid and his upper body is large, so he has excellent skills to put power on the ball.”
He continued, “Considering that 81 games are played at (Boston’s home stadium) Fanway Park, it is possible to hit 402 bases and hit 45 home runs per year.”
1 m73, 80 kg. Despite his small stature, he combined power with sophisticated batting ability.
Yoshida hit his fifth home run of the season against left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi (32) against the Toronto Blue Jays on the 3rd (Korean time). During his days in Nippon Professional Baseball, he had a batting average of 101.5 against Kikuchi (3 hits in 26 at-bats) with 6 strikeouts, hitting his first home run in the major leagues.
On April 23, against the Milwaukee Brewers, he hit a one-run home run and a home run with bases loaded in two at-bats in the 8th inning.
Yoshida recorded a career batting average of ‘3027’ in Nippon Professional Baseball. He has the best contact ability and has a good starting line, so he has a low strikeout rate and a high on-base percentage.
His slugging power is also excellent, but he is not a home run hitter. He has hit 20 or more homers in four seasons with the Orix. The 29 home runs in 2019 are the most in a season.
Rice expected the home run number to be higher considering Yoshida’s outstanding batting ability, home field characteristics, and number of games played per team. Nippon Professional Baseball plays 143 games per team, and 162 games in the major leagues. 메이저사이트
Rice cited adaptation to Green Monster on the left side of Fanway Park as a requirement for success as a fielder. He played 16 years in Boston in the same left fielder as Yoshida.
During spring camp, he revealed an anecdote related to Yoshida. I had a question, so I talked to him through an interpreter, but Yoshida asked me a question. That’s an advantage a good player should have, he said.Rice, who made his major league debut in 1975, played in 2089 games for Boston for 16 years until 1989.