FORT MYERS, FL, -- Four hours before last night's game with the Minnesota Twins, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was answering questions from reporters when he spied a familiar player walking from the player parking lot at jetBlue Park toward the home clubhouse.
"Hey!'' exclaimed Cora, interrupting an answer mid-sentence and clapping his hands in appreciation for the return to camp of Masataka Yoshida. "Wow!...You look tired...Good job!''
The two embraced briefly, with Yoshida acknowledging that the travel, physical wear-and-tear and emotion of his country's victory in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic had left him feeling exhausted. The final was Tuesday night, and though Miami is just a two-hour drive away from Fort Myers, the Red Sox hadn't expected Yoshida until Thursday.
When Yoshida left camp in the first week of March, the Red Sox had already been impressed with the quality of his at-bats, his patient approach and outfield defense. But after watching him establish a WBC tournament record with 13 RBI, they were even more dazzled.
Shohei Ohtani might have sealed the championship by fanning his Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out in the top of the ninth in a one-run game, securing MVP honors for the tournament. But it was Yoshida, far less known in North America, who was the breakout star of the tourney.
"He's got style, man, he has swag,'' gushed Cora when asked of his impressions from afar in the WBC. "He played good defense over there and whenever he made a play, you'd see him flipping the ball in like Ichiro (Suzuki). That was cool to see. There was a ball (Tuesday) that you could see him backing up (the center fielder). Like I've been saying all along, (Japanese players) are fundamentally sound. They know how to play. They run the bases well. They put the ball in play.
"You can tell, he goes after (the pitch) early in the count. He's not afraid to let it fly. Then, with two strikes, he back-strikes the ball and puts the ball in play. He didn't expand too much. He's a good player, a great dude. He enjoyed the whole experience. That big swing in the semis (a game-tying, three-run homer in the seventh inning to help defeat Mexico), that put them in the finals. He's been fun to watch but now it's time to get him here and let the fun begin here.''
This was not Yoshida's first time on a big stage. He was the MVP of the Nippon Professional Baseball of the Japan Series last fall, months before he signed a five-year, $90 million deal with the Red Sox. But he seemed to thrive in the WBC environment, which could ease any concerns the Sox have about his ability to handle the pressure and expectations that come with playing in Boston.
If Yoshida can handle all the attention and the bright spotlight that shone on Team Japan during the tournament, anything else could seem mild by comparison.
"It's not that he's never been in the spotlight,'' reminded Cora. "He's a good hitter. If you talk to anybody who has ever played against him or what they do over there, what they play, everybody's pretty sure that this guy's going to hit at this (MLB) level. I'm excited to see how he plays left field here because what I saw in the tournament was a very solid defender who knows how to play. Maybe he doesn't have the range of other guys, but the package is the one we envisioned.''
After a day or so to get re-acclimated, Yoshida will be back in the Red Sox lineup Friday, after which Cora and the coaching staff will determine how many of the remaining four Grapefruit League contests he'll participate in. The clear emphasis, though, will be getting him time in left field at jetBlue Park and its configuration, which mimics that of Fenway.
Having missed almost three weeks with the team, the Sox want to make sure that he's comfortable playing in front of the wall, and familiar with his fellow outfielders.
"It's about playing defense, not getting at-bats,'' said Cora.
The Red Sox saw enough quality at-bats over the last few weeks. And so, for that matter, did Team Japan's opponents.