“Yoshida AL Rookie of the Year is likely…” Japanese media worries about Matsui’s pain 20 years ago
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- on May 16, 2023
Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox), who overcame difficulties in the early stages of the opening season and wielded a hard hit먹튀검증, is emerging as a candidate for the American League Rookie of the Year award.
Yoshida, who entered the major leagues after signing a contract for 5 years and 90 million dollars (approximately 120 billion won) this year, had only one home run and batting average of 0.167 in the first 13 games of his opening. However, after correcting his batting stance with the coaching staff in the middle of last month, he became a different person.
From the 21st of last month (Korean time) to the 8th of this month, Yoshida recorded 16 hits in a row, and his sense of hitting revived. His May performance reached 11 games, 15 hits in 40 at-bats (2 homers), 8 RBIs, a batting average of 0.375 and an OPS of 1.032. In particular, he was selected as the American League Player of the Week for his batting average of 0.480 in six games in the first week of this month.
The Japanese sports webzine ‘Sportiva’ predicted on the 15th, “Yoshida’s hard hitting will not be a temporary phenomenon. With Shohei Ohtani, it will be difficult to win the American League MVP, but it is not strange to win the Rookie of the Year award now.”
A player who has not exceeded 130 at-bats in the major leagues, pitched 50 innings, and completed 45 days on the active roster until the previous season is eligible for Rookie of the Year. Yoshida, who joined the Orix Buffaloes in 2016, becomes a ‘Used Rookie of the Year’ requirement as this year is his first major league season.
In the past, Hideo Nomo (1995), Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000), Ichiro Suzuki (2001), and Shohei Otani (2018) went through Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and became major league rookies.
‘NESN’, a Boston area broadcasting network and host broadcaster, also recently argued, “Now is the time to bet on Yoshida of the Red Sox for the American League Rookie of the Year award.”
‘Sportiva’ picked infielder Ryan Noda, outfielder Esteuri Lewis (above Oakland), infielder Anthony Volpi (New York Yankees), and pitcher Hunter Brown (Houston Astros) as Yoshida’s Rookie of the Year rivals.
In addition to these, there are other boundary factors. The above media said, “Because he played for NPB, there is a high possibility that he will not be evaluated as a true ‘rookie. He said, concerned about the ‘used discount’.