One of the best baseball players from Japan could be coming overseas to join a Major League club this winter.

According to Gaijin Baseball, Masataka Yoshida of the Orix Buffaloes has stated that he wants to be posted this off-season. None of the bigger, more reputable Japanese baseball sources have confirmed the report, so it&#8217;s best to consider this a rumour at this point.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Orix Buffaloes star Masataka Yoshida has stated that he wants to be posted.
The face of the franchise since he debuted in 2016, Yoshida is an on-base machine (career .421) who&#39;s coming off his first 1.000 OPS season, and put up a 201 wRC+.
Preference is likely the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Phillies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Phillies</a> <a href="https://t.co/ewE3jQJg8c">pic.twitter.com/ewE3jQJg8c</a>
&mdash; Gaijin Baseball/外国人野球 (@GaijinBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/GaijinBaseball/status/1587056728067264512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The 29-year-old Yoshida has been one of the best players in Japan since joining Orix in 2016. Over the course of 762 NPB games, the left-handed outfielder has slashed a .327/.421/.539 line with 133 home runs and a wildly impressive 421 walks to 300 strikeouts.
Gaijin Baseball also added that Yoshida&#8217;s preference would be to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, <a href="https://twitter.com/GaijinBaseball/status/1587072037985583105?s=20&amp;t=Df6Kop0q9KFiFs9cf6pLSg">as Bryce Harper is the player that he idolized growing up</a>. Whether there would be mutual interest from the Phillies is unknown at this point.
Last winter, <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/2021/12/05/the-blue-jays-are-reportedly-among-the-teams-who-have-been-most-aggressive-in-pursuit-of-seiya-suzuki/">the Blue Jays pursued Seiya Suzuki</a>, the top Japanese free agent available, but he wound up inking a five-year, $85 million deal with the Chicago Cubs. Given the team&#8217;s need for a left-handed bat, it would make sense for the Blue Jays to go after Yoshida if he winds up getting posted.
The posting system for Japanese players changed a few years ago and is quite a bit different than it was during the <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/990497-toronto-blue-jays-fail-in-bid-to-land-yu-darvish-thanks-to-cheap-ownership">infamous Yu Darvish saga</a>. Back then, teams would make silent auction bids to a player&#8217;s NPB team to earn the right to negotiate with that player. Now, players can negotiate with all 30 MLB clubs and their NPB team gets a cut of the contract that they sign.
<hr />
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://join.pointsbet.ca/april-launch-generic/?utm_source=Unbounce_Nation_Network_Display&amp;utm_%20medium=Generic_First_Bet&amp;utm_campaign=Free_Bet_25_Bet_Insurance_560&amp;utm_term=Unbounce&amp;utm_content=Nation_Network_Display&amp;promo=NHLGNFBPND" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-wpel-link="external">POINTSBET IS LIVE IN ONTARIO</a></h1>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-57570" src="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/09/unnamed.jpg" sizes="auto, (max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px" srcset="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/09/unnamed.jpg 727w, https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/09/unnamed-300x167.jpg 300w" alt="" width="727" height="404" />

One of the best baseball players from Japan could be coming overseas to join a Major League club this winter.



According to Gaijin Baseball, Masataka Yoshida of the Orix Buffaloes has stated that he wants to be posted this off-season. None of the bigger, more reputable Japanese baseball sources have confirmed the report, so it's best to consider this a rumour at this point.

https://twitter.com/GaijinBaseball/status/1587056728067264512?s=20&amp;t=Df6Kop0q9KFiFs9cf6pLSg

The 29-year-old Yoshida has been one of the best players in Japan since joining Orix in 2016. Over the course of 762 NPB games, the left-handed outfielder has slashed a .327/.421/.539 line with 133 home runs and a wildly impressive 421 walks to 300 strikeouts.

Gaijin Baseball also added that Yoshida's preference would be to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, <a href="https://twitter.com/GaijinBaseball/status/1587072037985583105?s=20&amp;t=Df6Kop0q9KFiFs9cf6pLSg">as Bryce Harper is the player that he idolized growing up</a>. Whether there would be mutual interest from the Phillies is unknown at this point.

Last winter, <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/2021/12/05/the-blue-jays-are-reportedly-among-the-teams-who-have-been-most-aggressive-in-pursuit-of-seiya-suzuki/">the Blue Jays pursued Seiya Suzuki</a>, the top Japanese free agent available, but he wound up inking a five-year, $85 million deal with the Chicago Cubs. Given the team's need for a left-handed bat, it would make sense for the Blue Jays to go after Yoshida if he winds up getting posted.

The posting system for Japanese players changed a few years ago and is quite a bit different than it was during the <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/990497-toronto-blue-jays-fail-in-bid-to-land-yu-darvish-thanks-to-cheap-ownership">infamous Yu Darvish saga</a>. Back then, teams would make silent auction bids to a player's NPB team to earn the right to negotiate with that player. Now, players can negotiate with all 30 MLB clubs and their NPB team gets a cut of the contract that they sign.

<hr />

<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://join.pointsbet.ca/april-launch-generic/?utm_source=Unbounce_Nation_Network_Display&amp;utm_%20medium=Generic_First_Bet&amp;utm_campaign=Free_Bet_25_Bet_Insurance_560&amp;utm_term=Unbounce&amp;utm_content=Nation_Network_Display&amp;promo=NHLGNFBPND" target="_blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-wpel-link="external">POINTSBET IS LIVE IN ONTARIO</a></h1>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-57570" src="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/09/unnamed.jpg" sizes="(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px" srcset="https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/09/unnamed.jpg 727w, https://bluejaysnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/09/unnamed-300x167.jpg 300w" alt="" width="727" height="404" />

Japanese star Masataka Yoshida (a left-handed hitting outfielder) reportedly plans to sign with an MLB team this off-season

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet (35) pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Fenway Park.

Recent articles from Cam Lewis

Breaking News