The Mayor's Office is meeting with Masataka Yoshida over severe underperformance and a poor roster fit for the 2025 Boston Red Sox. Yoshida signed a 5-year/$90 million deal in winter 2022 and has a career Red Sox line of .281/.337/.427 with a wRC+ of 110 across 273 games. His 2023–2024 production was serviceable, but his 2025 start is markedly worse: after 25 games he is hitting .235/.280/.365, striking out 18.3% and walking 3.2%, trends that have become concerning during a late-August pennant race. Defensive issues further complicate his role as a full-time designated hitter.
When Chaim Bloom courted Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida to Boston with a 5-year/$90 million deal in the winter of 2022, this simply cannot be what he envisioned. In 273 games for the Boston Red Sox, Yoshida has hit .281/.337/.427 for a wRC+ of 110. While on the surface that isn't terrible, it is a far cry from what you'd like out of a now full-time designated hitter.
After 25 games and almost 100 plate appearances, Yoshida's 2025 triple slash is .235/.280/.365. That is, for lack of a better word, pitiful. He is striking out 18.3% of the time and walking 3.2%, up and down, respectively, from his percentages of 12.4% and 6.4% last season. Basically every trend regarding Yoshida's bat is a concerning one.
If it were April, or May, or even June, that would be one thing. But it's not. It is late August and the Boston Red Sox are smack dab in the middle of a pennant race. They really cannot afford to wait and see if Yoshida's bat comes around. Every at-bat of every game means so much right now, and your designated hitter going 1 for 4 with a single on a nightly basis is simply not going to cut it.
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