The Boston Red Sox’s biggest move of the winter was the signing of Japanese slugger Masataka Yoshida.
Because of the loss of Xander Bogaerts, their offseason was quite a mixed bag, with several key players being added while others departed.
Yoshida is currently taking part in the World Baseball Classic and is competing alongside Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, and Lars Nootbaar with Team Japan.
On Thursday, he helped guide Japan to a 9-3 win over Team Italy which sent them to the semifinals for the fifth consecutive time in WBC play.
He hit a solo home run in the seventh and drove in another run on a sacrifice play.
On Twitter, the Red Sox posted a couple of pictures of Yoshida’s home run stroke, marveling at his abilities.
The Masa Mash pic.twitter.com/6HxKT5Q7Zh
— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 16, 2023
Yoshida joined the Red Sox on a five-year deal this past winter and figures to be a key piece in their starting lineup heading into the 2023 season.
Boston added Justin Turner and Adam Duvall to strengthen the offense after the Yoshida signing.
But Yoshida was the team’s biggest acquisition, and he certainly put on a show in the WBC on Thursday, helping Japan eliminate Team Italy and move on to the next round.
And this is certainly encouraging to see for the Red Sox, who are hoping to prove their doubters wrong and pull off another surprise run to the postseason, just as they did in 2021.
Yoshida can help with that and is certainly going to be an interesting player to watch this season.
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