In 10 days, he hit all 9 games and raised his batting average by 107 li. The WBC RBI leader, who had been silent at the beginning of the season, finished April in a good mood.
Masataka Yoshida스포츠토토 (30, Boston Red Sox) started as the designated hitter in the home game against the Cleveland Guardians in the 2023 major league held at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, USA on the 30th (Korean time). He went 4-for-1 with 1 hit, 1 walk and 1 run scored.
Yoshida walked and scored in the first inning that day, and produced a hit by attacking Cleveland starter Zack Plesac’s changeup in the third inning. Compared to the recent rise, the 2 hits for 1 hit on the day was rather quiet. However, until this day, he had hit in 9 consecutive games.
Starting with two hits against the Minnesota Twins on the 21st, Yoshida is 15 hits in 36 at-bats in 9 games, with a batting average of 0.417. The batting average, which plummeted to 0.167 before the start of the 9-game hitting streak, soared to 0.274 through 9 games. Exactly one penny and seven li rise.
He has had two or more hits in five of his last nine games. There was also one 3-hit game. Of course, since it is the beginning of the season, the sample is small. The range of variation in batting average is bound to be large. However, recently, the quality of batted balls has improved and it seems to be getting stronger.
After Yoshida signed a contract with Boston for 5 years and 90 million dollars, he won the RBI title with 13 RBIs in the WBC. At that time, he led Japan’s championship with a batting average of 0.409, 2 home runs, 13 RBIs, 5 runs, and an OPS of 1.258 with 9 hits in 22 at-bats in 7 games.
However, after entering the season, a slump came. Prior to this nine-game hitting streak, Yoshida had hit in only five games. He has never shown the advantage of being accurate and even a long shot. However, he hit two doubles on three home runs as he drove in 15 hits in his last nine games.
While Yoshida is on a roll, Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who is in his second year in the major leagues, is off to a slightly more sluggish start than Yoshida. Up to this day, in 14 games, 14 hits in 55 at-bats, a batting average of 0.255, 1 home run, 6 RBIs, 6 runs, an OPS of 0.684. There were times when he couldn’t play for a while due to an injury, but he doesn’t feel like he’s coming back to life yet.