Boston Red Sox left fielder Masataka Yoshida. Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Key Red Sox signing off to historic start

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Jun 4, 2023 2:29 PM ET

The Boston Red Sox mad a big move this offseason in paying a huge price to bring Masataka Yoshida to the major leagues from Japan.

It has worked out perhaps even better than expected.

The Red Sox signed Yoshida to a five-year, $90 million contract, and when combined with the $15.4 million posting fee it was more than a $100 million investment.

For that price the Red Sox needed to get a star.

They got one.

Not only has Yoshida been off to a great start in reshaping the Red Sox lineup, he is doing things to start his career that almost no other player in baseball history has done.

In 50 games, Masataka Yoshida has hit .314 with an .899 OPS, 22 XBH, 23 BB, and 22 SO.

Only two players this century have reached base 85+ times and struck out 25 or fewer times in their first 50 career games:

Masataka Yoshida (2023)
Ichiro Suzuki (2001)
— J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) June 4, 2023

Like Yoshida, Ichiro was a veteran in coming over from Japan and had a distinguished career in the second best pro baseball league in the world. So he is not a true rookie in the classic sense.

Yoshida is already 29 years old, but he has been the Red Sox best hitter through the first 50 games by a sizable margin and one of the biggest reasons they have a winning record entering play on Sunday.

It might not be enough to get them a playoff spot in a brutally tough American League East this season. But he is definitely looking like a player that has a place in Boston for the foreseeable future. They paid a big price and took a big risk, but it is paying off with a big reward.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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