If we're being honest, we still don't know what the Red Sox have in Masataka Yoshida, and neither, in all probability, do the Red Sox themselves.
Is Yoshida someone whose game won't translate to MLB because he's unable to handle the higher velocity that he seldom saw in Japan? Is he mostly a bat-to-ball force, getting on base at a high clip but incapable of driving the ball with authority?
Or is he a more complete offensive performer, with the ability to serve as a middle-of-the-lineup performer who can do real damage?
The Red Sox have a lot riding on the outcome, more even than the $90 million they invested when they signed Yoshida to a five-year deal last December. Yoshida was the team's only marquee free agent signing, and if he's not the impactful player they thought he was, the Sox have a lot of dead money tied up for the near future and the team's talent evaluation skills are called into question.
For one afternoon, however, Yoshida seemed to answer all the questions at once.
In the first inning, he supplied a sacrifice fly to hand the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. But it was the eighth inning that spoke loudest.
First, Yoshida hit a line drive homer that just carried over the right field fence, snapping a 4-4 tie that had been forged one batter earlier when Justin Turner led off the inning with a solo homer of his own. Then, Yoshida put an exclamation point on things. With the Sox having opened up an 8-4 lead, Yoshida connected for a second time in the inning. Only this time, Yoshida crushed a pitch into the second deck, well over 400 feet, for a grand slam.
It had been 15 years since a Red Sox player had homered twice in the same inning. David Ortiz did so in 2008. And while no one is suggesting that Yoshida has anywhere near the same power supply, he's not a bad name with which to be associated.
In 23 games here, Yoshida has been consistently inconsistent. For every game in which he shows the ability to slug, there's another game in which Yoshida tops balls into the ground, rolls over on tough pitches and flare balls into the outfield.
It's worth noting, of course, that all of this -- the language, the culture, the actual baseball, the travel, the schedule, even the playing surfaces and elements -- is new to Yoshida, to say nothing of the unfamiliarity he has with major league pitchers. It has to feel overwhelming to him at times, and there have times -- a recent 0-for-17 skid that he finally snapped at the end of last week's homestand -- where it feels like it's all too much.
He's at his best when he's using the entire field, or even focusing on going the other way. In that way, Fenway is perfect for him, and the inviting wall is the perfect target for lots of doubles. But especially when he's fed fastballs up in the zone. Yoshida had fallen into the habit of trying to get on top of pitches, resulting in a host of groundouts to the right side.
In a postgame interview on NESN following the Red Sox' 12-5 comeback win over the Milwaukee Brewers, Yoshida said he had been working with the Red Sox hitting instructors in recent days to find a more consistent approach. Based on the results in the eighth inning alone, Yoshida and the coaches discovered something worthwhile.
"He swings at the right ones,'' noted Alex Cora. "Obviously, there's adjustments and things he needs to do (in order) to hit the ball hard in the air. He got two pitches today, and the second one, that was fun to watch.''
Other Japanese position players have struggled transitioning to MLB, too. Former Yankee outfielder/DH Hideki Matsui enjoyed a fine 10-year career here, but struggled in his first month, too. In his first month with the Yankees, Matsui hit two homers and posted a .683 OPS. By the end of his rookie season here, he had hit 16 homers, knocked in 106 and posted a more respectable .783 OPS.
By his second season, Matsui almost doubled his homer output (31) and posted a .912 OPS. Everyone has their adjustments.
Which isn't to suggest that Yoshida is going to have that kind of production, now or in the future. For one thing, Matsui was far more imposing physically, and a stronger hitter. For another, some of the underlying numbers on Yoshida indicate that he's not hitting the ball very hard. Will that change over time?
Again, uncertainty surrounds him. We don't know what we don't know about him.
But in games like Sunday, you can see the potential, and if you're the Red Sox, cross your fingers that there will be more to come.