The Boston Red Sox losing Roman Anthony was a huge blow to their offense, as he was doing damage as their leadoff hitter. The Sox were expected to replace him with Jarren Duran at leadoff, but tonight they are going with someone no one expected.
According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, the Sox have chosen designated hitter and outfielder Masataka Yoshida to be their leadoff man tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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“For the first time in his major league career, designated hitter Masataka Yoshida will lead off for the Sox against the Diamondbacks and righty Brandon Pfaadt on Saturday night. Yoshida will hit two spots ahead of Duran, who is back in the third spot ahead of cleanup man Trevor Story,” Cotillo wrote.
This season, Yoshida is slashing .242/.295/.358/.654 with only two homers over 120 at bats. This would also be Yoshida’s first time ever leading off in his professional career, in the NPB and the MLB.
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Yoshida was likely chosen due to the fact the Sox considered making him their leadoff hitter back when they got him in 2023. He had a ridiculously high OBP in the NPB, so putting him first made sense.
Even in the MLB, minus this season, Yoshida has had a great OBP. In 2023, it was .338 and in 2024, it was .349. And since he’s going against Brandon Pfaadt, who owns a 5.33 ERA, the Sox must think Yoshida will return to his high OBP self, at least for this game.
Hopefully he does, as every win counts down the stretch as the Sox try to make the playoffs for the first time in years.
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