The cheering culture is different.”
On the 7th (Korean time), Masataka Yoshida (30, Boston Red Sox) looked back on his major league debut week in an interview with MLB.com, the official major league website.
Yoshida wore the Boston uniform through the posting system (private competitive bidding) in December of last year. The size of the contract was 5 years, 90 million dollars (approximately 118.7 billion won), and including the transfer fee of 15.37 million dollars (approximately 20.2 billion won) to be paid by Boston to Yoshida’s former team Orix Buffaloes, it was a large contract worth more than 100 million dollars in total.
Currently, Yoshida is adjusting smoothly to Boston. He started from the start of the 2023 season and has a batting average of 0.250 (7 hits in 28 at-bats), 1 home run, 6 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.737 in 7 games.
‘MLB.com’ said, “Yoshida played against the Detroit Tigers on the 7th and celebrated his major league debut a week ago. It seems like a good time to find out how he is adapting to the United States and Boston.”
The biggest difference Yoshida felt between Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball was the ‘cheering culture’. “You can play with excitement in Japan, but the way major leagues cheer is different. Fans at Fenway Park (Boston’s home stadium) clap and cheer when a pitcher gets a two-strike. Japan doesn’t do that,” he explained. .
“There is also a difference in the speed of the pitchers. American pitchers seem to like the changeup more than the splitter, so they are adapting.
This season, Yoshida plans to play as the team’s starting left fielder. Naturally, a story about defending Fenway Park’s famous green monster (11.3m high green outfield fence) came up. Even the top players in the major leagues have a lot of difficulties in defense in front of this wall.
Yoshida said,먹튀검증 “I have to focus on managing the ball and making it a single hit. I’m still studying and learning.”
Lastly, Yoshida looked back on his first major league home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates on the 4th and said, “I was happy, and the first home run made me feel calm. I think I’ve gained another stat. I want to keep showing good results.” He was determined for the rest of the season.