The Boston Red Sox have a very solid offensive piece not currently with the big league roster.
Boston outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida hasn’t appeared in a game with the Red Sox so far this season. He also hasn’t appeared in a minor league game to kick off a rehab assignment as well. Yoshida was slow to kick off Spring Training but appeared in 11 games and slashed .286/.286/.400 with one homer and seven RBIs. He only saw time as desginated hitter, though.
The team made it clear that he will be moving back to the outfield in 2025 and won’t see action until his throwing is at 100 percent. After offseason shoulder surgery, that hasn’t been the case so far. It was shared this week that his throwing is “still not going well.”
There has been speculation and rumors that the Red Sox could be pushing the issue of Yoshida’s role into the future as with Rafael Devers at designated hitter and a surplus of outfielders there doesn’t seem to be a clear path to playing time for Yoshida who is in the third year of his five-year, $90 million deal.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow addressed this question, as transcribed by MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam.
“I think there’s no reason for somebody who we think can help us to be stashed anywhere other than Fenway Park,” Breslow said as transcribed by Cotillo and McAdam.
“Hitting is ahead. He has no discomfort when he is hitting. But as it relates to the throwing program, there have been some hurdles. He’s going through an interval throwing program. He’s gotten out to 120 feet. But the intensity has been really, really light, so he is not really able to add enough intensity to make this reasonable to play in games, and that’s obviously important. If we were just evaluating by distance, it might be a little bit deceiving here because the intensity is not game-like at all.”
