Red Sox DH/OF Masataka Yoshida Finally Gets Significant Update

The Boston Red Sox haven’t had Masataka Yoshida available for a game so far this season.

With the surplus of outfield talent the team has, this has at least made the roster picture a little easier to work with. But, he’s a talented player in his own right and is in the third year of a five-year, $90 million deal.

Yoshida is a good hitter and saw time as designated hitter in Spring Training, but it was shared early on that he wasn’t going to be an option for Boston until he was able to throw at 100 percent because Boston wants to use him in the outfield. He underwent offseason surgery which is why he hasn't been fully healthy this year.

He was recently shut down and needed a cortisone shot to get back up to speed. WEEI’s Rob Bradford shared a positive update about Yoshida on Tuesday and made it sound like a potential rehab assignment could be coming in late June or early July.

"Yoshida said had a cortisone shot a couple of weeks ago and is now throwing out to 105 feet," Bradford said. "Feels a lot better. Said realistic goal is to be able to go on a rehab assignment later this month or early next month."

This is the first time this season that there has been any sort of potential timeline given for Yoshida to begin a minor league rehab assignment. It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how Boston handles him moving forward. 

Last season, Yoshida appeared in 108 games and slashed .280/.349/.415 with 10 homers and 56 RBIs.