The first month of the Major League Baseball season saw several Japanese import players make a significant impact. On the pitching side, Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs picked up where they left off last season; Kodai Senga of the New York Mets rebounded nicely from a lost 2024 campaign; The Baltimore Orioles’ Tomoyuki Sugano made a solid impression during his first month in MLB; young Dodger phenom Roki Sasaki showed some ace potential mixed with growing pains; and reliever Yuki Matsui of the San Diego Padres posted solid numbers.
Otherwise, designated hitter and 2024 MVP Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers got off to a good start, as did outfielder Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs. Los Angeles Angels pitcher Yusei Kikuchi had mixed results in his first month with the club, while fellow pitcher Kenta Maeda of the Detroit Tigers had a difficult early season.
Pitcher Yu Darvish of the Padres and Boston Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida have yet to play because of injuries.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
In the second season of a 12-year, $325 million contract, Yamamoto has begun looking like the ace the Dodgers were hoping for. He’s displayed an otherworldly splitter, appears to have improved each of the pitches in his repertoire, and his command has been excellent.
After a solid, if injury-truncated, rookie season, Yamamoto was 3-2 in six starts with a 1.06 ERA and 1.11 WHIP after the first full month of the 2025 season. He walked 11 batters while striking out 43 in 34 innings. He also had an 18-inning scoreless streak. Even in a 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh and Paul Skenes on April 25, Yamamoto allowed just five hits and one earned run, though he did walk four batters.
Opposing batters are hitting just .111 (5-46) off Yamamoto’s splitter, and 22 of his 43 strikeouts have been on the pitch.
“There’s a lot of time [left in the season], but I do think that right now, [Yamamoto’s] the best pitcher in the National League,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Yamamoto went seven innings to win a duel with Texas’s Jacob DeGrom.
The Dodgers have had a large number of injuries to their starting pitchers early in the season, and there is a possibility that they could ask Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki to pitch more often. They’ve been trying to replicate their NPB workloads initially (starting pitchers pitch once a week in Japan), but might need them to step up more.
Roki Sasaki
The 23-year-old phenom showed flashes of outstanding-level form in his first go in MLB, but he also endured some growing pains, particularly with his command.
In six starts, Sasaki had an 0-1 record with a 3.55 ERA and a high 1.42 WHIP. He’s issued 18 bases on balls in 25.1 innings while striking out just 20 – the latter unusual for a pitcher with terrific stuff and a fastball that can reach triple digits.
“When you get youth and talent, which is Roki, what that introduces is variance,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Sasaki’s debut versus the Cubs in Tokyo on March 19.
After Sasaki’s fourth start on April 12, when he gave up just one run in five innings against the Cubs, Roberts said, “Probably the most important piece of the game was for him to get better, go deeper in the game, throw strikes, get strikeouts, soft contact.” Sasaki followed that with a start against Texas in which he went six innings and allowed just two hits and two earned runs.
Sasaki wasn’t fully healthy throughout any of his four NPB seasons, and there were questions about how he would avoid injuries in MLB. He has pitched 100 or more innings in a season just twice, and his highest total is just 129.1, so the Dodgers have closely managed his workload, and it will be interesting to see if they increase his load because of the run of injuries to the starting staff.
His velocity dipped last season after going as high as 102 mph previously, and the average velocity on his fastball so far this season is 96.4 mph, though he’s reached as high as 100.5 on his four-seamer, which he has thrown 51 percent of the time. A splitter and a slider are the only other pitches he’s thrown thus far. Hitters are averaging .236 against the four-seamer, .148 vs. the splitter, and .111 off the slider.
Shota Imanaga
After a rookie MLB season in which he was 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, Imanaga does not appear to have missed a beat. Through April, he has a 3-1 record, a 2.77 ERA, and a 1.13 WHIP. Imanaga was the first pitcher to go seven innings in a game twice this season.
“It means you’re getting a heck of an effort,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.. “There’s obviously some residual effects for your bullpen. You’re putting us deep into the game and getting to the right place in the bullpen. All three starts have been awesome and he’s off to a great start.”
“He’s making pitches,” Counsell added. “That’s what it’s about. He makes a pitch, then he makes another pitch, then he makes another pitch. He just doesn’t make mistakes. That’s a pretty good formula.”
The only blemishes so far are that Imanaga’s walk rate is double what it was in 2024 (3.2 per nine innings vs. 1.5/9) and his strikeout rate is down (7.1 per nine innings vs. 9.0/9).
Kodai Senga
After a 2024 season in which he made just one regular-season appearance because of injuries, Senga has returned to the level he showed in 2023 when he was second in National League Rookie-of-the-Year voting. He was healthy this spring and had added a two-seam fastball, or sinker, to his repertoire. He leveraged that into an April performance that included a 3-1 record, 1.26 earned-run mark, and 1.05 WHIP. Batters are hitting just .086 against his “ghost forkball.”
“(It’s) what people saw here in 2023 — a guy that’s going to take the baseball and he’s going to give you a chance every night,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re facing. If they’ve got an ace, we feel good about our chances when he takes the ball. This is someone that’s going to match the best of the best when he’s healthy and feeling good.”
Senga has issued just nine bases on balls while striking out 25 batters.
Tomoyuki Sugano
At 35, Sugano is one of the oldest Japanese players to come to MLB. He was first posted after the 2020 season but was not able to reach an agreement within the posting period. This time, as an international free agent with more than nine years of professional experience, he got a one-year deal worth $13 million from the Orioles.
In his first month in MLB, he made six starts, posting a 3-1 record and 3.00 ERA. He’s gradually increased his workload, going four innings in each of his first starts, then 5.1 and 4.2 innings, and then lasting seven innings in each of his next two starts. He has walked only six batters in 29 innings.
He’s averaging just 4.64 strikeouts per nine innings, but he was not known as a strikeout pitcher in Japan. In his last outing of the month, though, against the New York Yankees, Sugano struck out eight batters – seven of them swinging – in five scoreless innings. That was just one strikeout fewer than he’d had in his first five starts combined.
“Just really impressed,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “The ability to move the ball around the strike zone and change speeds, to pitch, it’s kind of a lost art in today’s game. And it’s refreshing.”
“He’s awesome,” Orioles’ infielder Jackson Holliday said. “Every time he goes out there, we know we’re going to get a quality start, he’s going to throw a bunch of strikes and get late into the game.”
In 12 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants, Sugano posted a 136-75 record with a 2.43 earned-run mark and 1.035 WHIP. He twice won the Sawamura Award – Japan’s equivalent of MLB’s Cy Young Award – and was an eight-time all-star.
Shohei Ohtani
The National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2024, when he hit .310 with 54 home runs and a 1.036 OPS, Ohtani began the 2025 season on a lighter note, averaging .287 with seven home runs and an OPS of .950. He has nine stolen bases, as well, and his hard-hit rate is 62.3 percent, which would be the highest of his career. Quite good, actually, but he has set an awfully high bar for himself.
Time will tell whether he can come close to replicating his batting achievements of 2024, given that he is planning to return to the mound on a regular basis – probably beginning sometime in May. Ohtani – who is recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, as well as left (non-throwing) shoulder surgery – had a 31-pitch bullpen session on April 26, throwing only four-seamers, two-seamers, and splitters. The big next step, facing hitters, will not take place until he is working with his entire pitch mix.
It will also be interesting to see how he and the Dodgers handle his workload. Ohtani will be 31 in July and has indicated that another surgery could mean the end of his career on the mound.
“I’ll be going from mid-level to veteran in 2021,” he was quoted as saying. “When the opportunity to have another surgery comes, it’s not realistic to have to rehabilitate for another year and a half,” Ohtani said, per Yahoo.
Ohtani also had a non-baseball-related highlight in April – the birth of his first child, a daughter.
Yusei Kikuchi
Kikuchi, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, chose the Los Angeles Angels in free agency, signing a three-year, $63 million contract in late November 2024.
Kikuchi had good results from spring training, with the addition of a sweeper to his repertoire making a big difference. However, inconsistency has been a hallmark of his MLB career, and that showed in the first month of 2025.
He was 0-4 in six April starts with a 4.31 ERA and bloated 1.60 WHIP. Uncharacteristically, he averaged less than a strikeout per inning, while allowing 32 hits and 18 bases on balls in 31.1 innings. His walk rate of 5.17 per nine innings is more than twice that of last season. To be fair, part of that was due to his last start of the month when he lasted just two innings against Minnesota on April 26 and gave up nine hits, four walks, and four earned runs.
One positive sign is that his hard-hit rate is significantly lower – better at this point than in the previous four seasons.
Seiya Suzuki
Suzuki began to come on strong in July of last season. Beginning in mid-August, he was primarily the designated hitter. He adapted well to it and was expected to again play that role in 2025, particularly since Cody Bellinger elected to remain with the Cubs instead of opting out of his contract. And, indeed, Suzuki has appeared in 25 of his 27 games this season as a DH.
Suzuki’s bat, rather than his defense, is his strong point. He made 36 of his final 37 starts in 2023 as a DH. During that time, he averaged .326 with a .933 OPS. So far in 2025, he is averaging .287 with seven home runs, 25 RBIs, and a .929 OPS. At the moment, his batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS are ahead of his career marks. His barrel and hard-hit rates are both up, as well.
“I thought Seiya did a great job when he was DH’ing,” Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer said. “Anytime you just have depth at a bunch of positions, [let’s say] you lose an outfielder, and all of a sudden to have the ability to slot a guy like that in is really nice. Seiya had a great year.”
Kenta Maeda
By any standard, Maeda had a rough 2024, the first season of a two-year, $24 million deal, and his 2025 campaign has not begun well.
Maeda competed for a starting role but was moved to the bullpen late in spring training. At the time, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said, “What we saw from Kenta this spring was really good. This guy doesn’t walk people. He’s striking out guys. He did have one bout with sickness, but had a really good spring . . . the power was up, his fastball was up, his split was good.”
But Maeda made seven relief appearances in April, giving up nine hits, six walks, and seven earned runs in eight innings, though he did have eight strikeouts. He pitched scoreless innings in his last two outings, however, which could mean that he’s on the upswing.
Yuki Matsui
Matsui, a 29-year-old in his second MLB season, was solid for the Padres. In 11 games covering 12.1 innings, he had a 2.92 earned-run mark, 19 strikeouts, and a 1.05 WHIP.
Though he was a closer in Japan with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, he is still being used in setup situations by the Padres or entering games with the team behind and closing them out.
Masataka Yoshida
Signed to a five-year, $90 million contract before the 2023 season – which some thought was an overpayment – Yoshida has had some good moments, but has yet to pay massive dividends on the Red Sox’ investment, and he has yet to play in 2025 because of injuries.
On October 3, he underwent labral repair on his right shoulder that was deemed successful. His labrum had started bothering him late in his rookie year of 2023, but he played through the discomfort all last season, when he was used exclusively as a DH. It was thought that he would be ready for the start of this season, and he batted .286 in 35 spring training at-bats. However, his shoulder is still not recovered enough for him to throw well from the outfield, and the Red Sox have opted to keep him on the Injured List until he is fully ready.
Also, Rafael Devers is now the regular designated hitter after Boston signed Alex Bregman to play third base, so DH is no longer a likely landing spot for Yoshida, who is rated as sub-par defensively. So it’s an interesting conundrum – read more details here.
Yu Darvish
Darvish, now 38 and starting the third season of a six-year, $108 million contract, halted his throwing program on March 17 because of what was referred to as “general fatigue”.
Then it was announced on March 21 that he will miss the beginning of the season because of inflammation in his right elbow.
Darvish began throwing off a mound earlier in April, but the sessions were low intensity. He ramped up somewhat as the month went on, but it’s likely that he won’t be ready to go until late May or early June.
Luckily for the Padres, their pitching staff has held up remarkably well thus far. As of April 28, the staff had the second-best ERA in MLB, and it ranked fourth in WHIP and batting average against.
Darvish also had his 2024 season truncated by elbow and neck issues. He did not pitch from May 29 until returning to the Padres on September 4, in part because of a personal matter that kept him away from the team for a period of time.
NOTES: The 27-year-old pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara signed a two-year deal with Washington in the off-season, but he was optioned to AAA Rochester on March 21. [As of April 28], he had made three starts covering 15 innings and was 1-1 with a 4.80 ERA . . . The Athletics landed a compelling player during the international signing period in January, signing 18-year-old Japanese two-way (pitcher/infielder) prospect Shotaro Morii. He made a solid impression during spring training and is now with the Athletics’ team in the Arizona Complex (Rookie) League . . . Slugging first baseman Rintaro Sasaki, Japan’s all-time high school home run leader, is now at Stanford University and averaging .273 with five home runs and a .766 OPS, seven home runs and 25 RBIs . . . Another Japanese player who opted to play college ball in the U.S. is Itsuki Takemoto, who pitched in the Koshien tournament as a high-schooler with Chiben Wakayama High School and then went to the University of Hawaii. At the moment, he is 2-4 in 11 starts on the mound and is batting .287 with a .721 OPS . . . Relief pitcher Koyo Aoyagi signed a minor-league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies in the off-season and was a non-roster invitee to spring training. He was reassigned to minor-league camp on March 15 and has a 1.13 ERA in eight relief appearances for AAA Lehigh Valley . . . Another import signing a minor-league contract was Shintaro Fujinami, who took a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training from the Seattle Mariners. His struggles with command have continued, as he has a 12.86 ERA in nine appearances and has walked 13 batters in eight innings . . . Slugger Munetaka Murakami of the Yakult Swallows, who broke the record for home runs in a single season by a Japanese-born player with 56 in 2022, announced that this will be his last season in NPB and he will then look to move to MLB. He suffered an oblique strain while swinging on April 18 and has been rehabbing with the Swallows’ developmental team.
