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Alex Cora not surprised with Masataka Yoshida’s showing in WBC
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- Alex Cora not surprised with Masataka Yoshida’s showing in WBC
BRADENTON, Fla. — Sunday morning brought with it news of the further exploits of Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida ’s in the World Baseball Classic.
Yoshida smoked a two-run homer to give Japan a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Australia. The homer was his second in as many days and Yoshida now has three extra-base hits, six RBI and an OPS of 1.783 in the tournament. His two homers in the current WBC match the number he hit in 55 games with the Sox last year.
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Surprised? Alex Cora isn’t.
“I don’t know why people are so surprised that he’s hitting,” said Cora before the Red Sox took on the Pittsburgh Pirates at LECOM Park. “When he was healthy in ‘23, the first half of the season, he was one of the best hitters in the big leagues. He got banged up, we kind of covered it for a while there with injections (for his shoulder), tough rehab, tough season, then the big surgery (in October 2024) with five anchors in there.
“So for him to bounce back toward the end of the season last year was impressive. And the offseason was a regular one.”
Asked how the Sox would utilize him in 2026, Cora responded: “We’re about to find out, right? When you hit in this league, you always ifnd ways to play those guys. The cool thing is that we’ve got good players here and it’s up to me to make it work. And we will make it work.”
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The problem is, for now, Yoshida is third on the team’s DH depth chart behind Jarren Duran and Roman Anthony , who will job-share at DH and left field. On paper, that doesn’t leave a lot of opportunities for Yoshida.
But if he keeps hitting like he has in the WBC, he could force the Red Sox’ hand.
“I’m the one playing him against lefties and he rakes against lefties in the WBC, so....” noted Cora with a chuckle.
Apart for his excellent bat-to-ball skills, Yoshida seems to be invigorated by the big stage that comes with international competition.
“He likes it,” confirmed Cora. “But he likes it here, too. But like I said, he’s been banged up. Now that we’ve got the healthy version, it should be fun.”
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Part of the problem is that all three DH candidates — Yoshida, Duran and Anthony — hit from the left side. If the Sox had a righty mixed in with the group, a platoon would be logical. As it is, they’ll have to pick from among three lefties.
The Red Sox have been looking for takers for Yoshida, having offered him in several trade discussions. But not surprisingly, rival clubs are put off by the $37.2 million owed to Yoshida for this season and next.
If he can return to the Red Sox and hit like he has for Team Japan, that could, at the very least, result in a spike of interest.
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