Masataka Yoshida

Masataka Yoshida

31-Year-Old OutfielderOF
Boston Red Sox
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Yoshida's first season in MLB came mostly as advertised. His exceptional contact rate carried over, but the rest of his game is still a work in progress. Yoshida recorded ample homers and steals to have reasonable hopes he improves in his second season. An area he can improve immediately is on-base skills. In Japan, Yoshida routinely posted double-digit walk rates, but he worked a free pass just 5.9% of the time in his rookie campaign. Only six of his 15 homers came at home, though 21 of his 33 doubles were in Fenway Park. This makes sense since Yoshida's flyball rate was just 26.9 percent. He swiped eight bases, but wasn't caught, suggesting he could run a little more. Yoshida's defense in left field was below par, which is an issue since his bat doesn't play as a full-time designated hitter. Still, Boston will continue to play Yoshida nearly every day, sitting him against some southpaws despite displaying limited platoon splits. He offers a strong batting average floor, with 20 homers and 15 stolen base upside. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#176
ADP
$Signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the Red Sox in December of 2022.
Starting vs. southpaw
OFBoston Red Sox
September 15, 2024
Yoshida will serve as the designated hitter and bat sixth against the Yankees on Sunday, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
Although the Yankees are sending southpaw Carlos Rodon to the mound Sunday, the lefty-hitting Yoshida will be in the lineup while Rob Refsnyder (wrist) remains sidelined. Yoshida is slashing .198/.283/.302 with two home runs and 13 RBI across 99 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this season.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
6
15
4
17
32
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
11
5
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+21%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+47%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+7%
OPS vs RHP
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .681 246 21 5 32 1 .244 .321 .359
Since 2022vs Right .822 722 92 20 94 8 .304 .355 .467
2024vs Left .588 102 7 2 13 0 .202 .284 .303
2024vs Right .863 286 35 8 41 1 .320 .385 .479
2023vs Left .746 144 14 3 19 1 .273 .347 .398
2023vs Right .795 436 57 12 53 7 .293 .335 .460
2022vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+8%
OPS at Home
2024
Even Split
2023
 
 
+13%
OPS at Home
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .817 470 63 10 62 4 .301 .357 .459
Since 2022Away .759 498 50 15 64 5 .279 .335 .423
2024Home .791 192 21 4 26 0 .293 .354 .437
2024Away .793 196 21 6 28 1 .287 .362 .431
2023Home .834 278 42 6 36 4 .306 .360 .475
2023Away .736 302 29 9 36 4 .273 .318 .418
2022Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Masataka Yoshida compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.53
 
BB Rate
6.7%
 
K Rate
12.6%
 
BABIP
.313
 
ISO
.144
 
AVG
.290
 
OBP
.358
 
SLG
.434
 
OPS
.792
 
wOBA
.351
 
Exit Velocity
88.0 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
31.9%
 
Barrels/PA
4.4%
 
Expected BA
.260
 
Expected SLG
.405
 
Sprint Speed
22.9 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
42.2%
 
Line Drive %
21.9%
 
Fly Ball %
35.9%
 
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Masataka Yoshida See More
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14 days ago
Aaron Judge has a .810 slugging rate and 1.308 OPS across his last 108 games, making him a great one-off or part of a Yankees stack for Monday DraftKings MLB DFS contests.
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Yoshida's appeal to the Red Sox, who signed him to a five-year, $90 million deal, likely centered around his ability to make contact. Across seven NPB seasons, the outfielder struck out just 9.4 percent of the time and hit .327. Those numbers were even better last year, when he rode an 8.1 K% to a .335/.447/.561 slash line and helped the Orix Buffaloes to a title. That contact ability should help him produce a solid or better average against MLB pitching, but whether he'll do enough else to live up to that free agent contract remains a question, as he offers very little with his glove and legs. His outstanding on-base ability could get him there, as he finished second among qualified NPB hitters in both strikeout rate and walk rate (15.7%) last season. He also has decent enough power, averaging 22 homers across the last five years, but it's possible he is more of a 10-to-15 homer guy against MLB pitching. His contract guarantees him significant playing time early on with Boston, but Yoshida is not a sure thing beyond his ability to hit for a high average.
More Fantasy News
Three RBI in win
OFBoston Red Sox
September 15, 2024
Yoshida went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBI and a run scored in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Yankees.
ANALYSIS
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Snaps homerless drought
OFBoston Red Sox
September 14, 2024
Yoshida went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run in Friday's 5-4 loss to the Yankees.
ANALYSIS
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Taking seat versus lefty
OFBoston Red Sox
September 12, 2024
Yoshida isn't in Boston's lineup for Thursday's game against the Yankees, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Taking seat against lefty
OFBoston Red Sox
September 9, 2024
Yoshida is absent from the lineup for Monday's game against the Orioles, Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald reports.
ANALYSIS
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On bench Saturday
OFBoston Red Sox
September 7, 2024
Yoshida is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the White Sox.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Playing outfield not considered
OFBoston Red Sox
June 12, 2024
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Tuesday that the organization has yet to consider playing Yoshida in the outfield, reports Christopher Smith of MassLive.com.
ANALYSIS
Tyler O'Neill is managing a knee injury and could presumably benefit from more time at designated hitter, but Boston is apparently set on Yoshida operating in a non-defensive role. O'Neill is likely to still receive some starts at DH, but it will come at the expense of Yoshida's playing time. The 30-year-old Yoshida has a .726 OPS in 25 games this season and just returned from a six-week absence due to a thumb injury.
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