“Feel proud of him,” Wrestling great Hiroshi Tanahashi APPLAUDS Red Sox’s rookie Masataka Yoshida, wishes to watch him live next season

Wrestling legend Hiroshi Tanashi has praised the performances of Boston Red Sox's rookie Masataka Yoshida and claimed he was proud of him.


“Feel proud of him,” Wrestling great Hiroshi Tanahashi APPLAUDS Red Sox’s rookie Masataka Yoshida, wishes to watch him live next season

Masataka Yoshida (L) and Hiroshi Tanahashi (R) [Pic Credit: The Japan Times/Voices of Wrestling]

With the MLB postseason underway, the excitement among fans has risen. This year several big names including the likes of New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have missed the playoffs round. Despite this outcome, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) icon Hiroshi Tanahashi was proud of how the Japanese stars did this year. One player praised the most was Masataka Yoshida.

While Shohei Ohtani continues to dominate the headlines, the likes of Yoshida and pitcher Kodai Senga have given more recognition to Japanese culture. The land of the rising sun, showcased their talent during the World Baseball Classic, winning the trophy against the USA. Tanashi has now expressed how he wanted to be a baseball star and praised Yoshida for his performance with the Red Sox.

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Yoshida, nicknamed “Macho Man” had a stellar rookie year with the Red Sox. He was one of their brightest players in a dull season where they finished bottom of the American League East.

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I feel proud of him as a countryman. It’d be great if I can go and see his games (next season) when I visit the US for our shows,” Tanahashi said through his translator. He would also jokingly claim to recruit Yoshid and Ohtani to the squared circle and feature them in wrestling.

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Masataka Yoshida: Another Japanese star on the rise

Major League Baseball has plenty of stars from Japan making their presence felt in the USA. The names of Ichiro Suzuki, Yu Darvish, and Shohei Ohtani have set the foundation for upcoming stars from Japan to show off their talent on the biggest baseball platform. Masataka Yoshida seems to be one of them. His performances this season have earned him huge praise and he could very well be the next Japanese star on the rise.

Masataka Yoshida (Pic Credit: AP)

It is no surprise that the Boston Red Sox enjoyed one of the worst seasons in recent history. The 9-time World Series winners lost several of their key players and finished dead last in their division with a 78-84 record. However, Yoshida continued to play with consistency and became one of the likely candidates for the American League Rookie of the Year award.

While appearing in 140 games this year, Yoshida batted with an average of .289. An on-base percentage (OPS) of .783 saw him hit 15 home runs and collect 72 RBIs. The way he has performed, these figures could improve drastically next year. Fans of the Red Sox would be hoping that this does happen as they will be looking forward to a much better season than this one.

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