Opening Day 2024: A Look at Japanese Major League Baseball Players

The start of the 2024 Major League Baseball season is just around the corner. This year 11 Japanese players feature on the squads of seven clubs that include the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs. It also marks the sixtieth anniversary of Murakami Masanori’s pioneering season in the big leagues.

The season officially gets underway on March 28, but ahead of Opening Day, the Dodgers and San Diego Padres will face off in two games in Seoul, South Korea, on March 20 and 21. Dubbed the Seoul Series, it is the first time for the MLB to hold regular-season games in the country.

Japanese MLB Players in 2024

American League

National League

(All photos © USA Today Sports/Reuters)

Pitchers form the bulk of Japanese talent in the MLB, and Japan’s nine hurlers will be looking to securing starting spots in their team’s rotations. Attention will again focus on star Ohtani, who signed a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers. Although he will not pitch in 2024 as he recovers from elbow surgery, he retains his “two-way player” designation as a player eligible to pitch while not counting against the team’s total roster of pitchers, and will remain a formidable figure in the batter’s box as the club’s designated hitter. Teammate Yamamoto, who penned a 12-year, $325 million deal with the club, is looking to make an impact during Ohtani’s absence on the mound.

Eyes will also be on Cubs’ newcomer Imanaga, who started for Japan in the gold-medal game of the World Baseball Classic, and fellow Samurai Japan player Matsui, who joins San Diego on a five-year deal.

Looking at teams’ pitching rotations, Darvish is set to start for the Padres in the opening game in Seoul, with the Yamamoto slated to be on the mound for the Dodgers in game two of the series. Maeda will be the number two starter for the Tigers and Kikuchi has secured the fourth slot in the Blue Jays’ rotation.

Turning to position players, Suzuki is expected to start in right field and bat fifth for the Cubs, while Yoshida will likely be Boston’s designated hitter, batting fifth.

The first Japanese player to play in the Major Leagues was pitcher Murakami Masanori. Debuting for the San Francisco Giants in September 1964, he played for two seasons at the club before returning to Japan.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Ohtani Shōhei bats in a preseason game against the Colorado Rockies in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 3, 2024. © USA Today Sports/Reuters.)