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Intriguing Red Sox Outfielder Absolutely Mashes His First Home Run Of World Baseball Classic

Yoshida is shining for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic

Patrick McAvoy

Intriguing Red Sox Outfielder Absolutely Mashes His First Home Run Of World Baseball Classic
Intriguing Red Sox Outfielder Absolutely Mashes His First Home Run Of World Baseball Classic /
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The Boston Red Sox certainly are well represented at the World Baseball Classic. 

The World Baseball Classic is heating up with quarterfinal action in full swing and one member of the Red Sox is making his presence felt in a major way. New Boston outfielder and Team Japan star Masataka Yoshida has been impressive all throughout the World Baseball Classic and even clubbed his first home run of the tournament Thursday. 

With Japan holding on to a comfortable 7-2 lead against Team Italy in the quarterfinals, Yoshida stepped up to the plate with the bases empty in the bottom of the seventh inning and absolutely crushed a long home run to right field at the Tokyo Dome. 

Yoshida has done a little bit of everything so far in the tournament for Team Japan and after the big win over Team Italy now is slashing an impressive .400/.552/.667 to go along with a home run and a tournament-leading 10 RBIs. 

If Yoshida is able to play like this for the Red Sox when Opening Day rolls around, Boston may be able to surprise a few people. Yoshida signed as a free agent with Boston this offseason to a five-year deal, leading to plenty of speculation. Some have loved the deal, and some thought Boston overpaid for the outfielder. 

In his short time with the club in Grapefruit League, Yoshida has shown flashes of brilliance and his performance on baseball's biggest stage at the World Baseball Classic is just another example. He's going to fit in perfectly with the Red Sox this season. 

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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