Photo Credit: Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times
The biggest story regarding Japanese import players in Major League Baseball in June was that Shohei Ohtani finally resumed pitching after a long period of rehab due to his second Tommy John surgery.
Oh – and he also continued to hit.
On the pitching side, the Chicago Cubs’ Shota Imanaga returned from the Injured List (IL) with a solid outing, and Yusei Kikuchi of the Los Angeles Angels had a strong month. Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers was inconsistent, while the Baltimore Orioles’ Tomoyuki Sugano and Yuki Matsui of the San Diego Padres had down months.
Designated hitter Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs had an off month, but his underlying statistics show reason for optimism. Elsewhere, heralded young Dodger pitcher Roki Sasaki remained on the Injured List with a shoulder impingement, while Kodai Senga of the New York Mets went on the IL because of a hamstring strain.
Pitcher Yu Darvish of the Padres and Boston Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida have yet to play this season because of injuries.
Shohei Ohtani
The big story with Ohtani in June was his return as a starting pitcher, with emphasis on “starting”.
Beginning on June 16 against San Diego, he was used as an opener in three games. He pitched an inning against the Padres – throwing one pitch at 100.2 miles per hour – another inning against Washington on June 22, and two against Kansas City on June 28. Against the Royals, he threw the fastest pitch of his career – a four-seam fastball at 101.7 mph.
Overall, in the three outings, Ohtani allowed three hits, one earned run, and one walk while striking out three batters. He made 73 pitches, 48 of them for strikes.
He said, “I felt pretty good about being able to come back and pitch well, especially considering when I had the surgery, the second time through, it was a lot better in terms of recovery than the first time through. Just talking to the doctor, he was very confident I was able to come back in full form. I do still feel like I have to work on little things, in terms of the pitching side, mechanically. So in terms of that, it’s still a work in progress.”
Ohtani added that “It’s going to be a gradual process. I want to see improvements with the quality of the pitches that I’m throwing, and then also increasing the amount of pitches. So it’s going to be gradual.”
Of course, let’s not forget that Ohtani is a hitter, too.
Though he averaged just .265 as a designated hitter in June, Ohtani posted solid numbers overall, with seven home runs, 15 RBIs, and a .931 OPS. Nearly half his hits – 13 of 27 – were for extra bases. For the season, he is averaging .287 with 29 home runs, 54 RBI, and a 1.021 OPS. He ranks third in MLB in home runs, slugging percentage, and OPS.
His barrel and hard-hit rates are slightly higher than in his 2024 MVP season.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Yamamoto had an up-and-down performance in June, going 1-3 with a 4.21 ERA. He did not allow a run in starts against St. Louis and Colorado, but in the other three, he gave up 20 hits, nine walks, and 12 earned runs in 14.2 innings.
Nonetheless, he has a season record of 7-6 with a 2.61 earned-run mark and a FIP (fielding independent pitching) mark of 3.25. His WHIP is a low 1.05.
His splitter remains his most effective pitch, with batters averaging just .148 against it. He has thrown the splitter and four-seam fastball 63 percent of the time, and hitters are averaging a combined .171 against them. His overall Batting Average Against is .195.
Interestingly, Yamamoto’s hard-hit percentage is 33.8 percent, and it was 32.5 percent in 2024. During his six seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), his highest hard-hit rate was 19.5 percent.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said in late June that the pitcher had not been “Yamamoto-like” in some time. Roberts has seen Yamamoto as being “too fine” and trying to paint the corners rather than challenging hitters in the zone.
But after his solid outing versus Colorado, Roberts said, “I thought he was fantastic. This was a good one. He used the curveball the right way. The split was really good. And the fastball. Yoshi was exactly what we needed tonight.”
Seiya Suzuki
Suzuki had a down month at the plate, posting a .226 average, .265 on-base percentage, and .481 slugging mark. The bright spot was that he hit eight home runs and drove in 17 runs, and his 69 RBIs tie him for the MLB lead.
His current season slash line is .258/.313/.540, and his on-base percentage would be the lowest by far of his four MLB seasons. His batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is just .289, compared to .370 in 2024 and an MLB career mark of .337. The BABIP suggests that he may be hitting into some bad luck, since his slugging percentage, average exit velocity, and both barrel and hard-hit rates are currently the best of his MLB career. His 22 home runs represent a career high, as well.
“I always have ups and downs,” Suzuki said. “But when I have bad times, I always find the issue and fix it. That’s how it’s been – making adjustments. I always look back at the videos of when I’m good, take the good parts of what I’m doing, and (apply) it to now.”
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said, “I see a guy that’s more aggressive both in demeanor and also in counts. He was a little bit more passive at the plate before.”
Shota Imanaga
After a rookie MLB season in which he was 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, Imanaga began the new season without missing a beat. However, he suffered a left hamstring strain in his first May start and was placed on the 15-day Injured List.
Imanaga returned to action on June 26 against St. Louis and picked up where he left off, pitching a scoreless five innings in which he allowed just one hit and one walk.
“He controlled the environment,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It looked like he’d been out there every single start. I think there’s a tendency to get a little over-amped in a start like that, and I thought he controlled his effort level really well, his energy really well and that caused a lot of really good execution.”
Cubs outfielder Ian Happ added, “You’re getting one of the best pitchers in the game back in the rotation. That’s obviously a huge boost for us.”
“It wasn’t an injury with the shoulder or the elbow, so I was able to throw throughout the whole process,” Imanaga said. “And that good feeling that I had before the injury, that’s still there, and I was able to maintain that.”
Imanaga is now 4-2 with a 2.54 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.
The no-walk outing against the Cardinals is a positive sign, as Imanaga’s walk rate has been higher than in 2024 – 2.7 per nine innings, compared to 1.5/9 a year ago. Opposing hitters’ barrel rate and hard-hit percentage against him are also higher.
Tomoyuki Sugano
In his first MLB season at age 35, after 12 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Sugano was solid in April and May but struggled in June, going 2-1 with a 6.20 ERA and allowing 35 hits in 24.2 innings.
He began June with a five-hit/one-run performance in seven innings against Seattle. In his other four starts, though, he allowed 30 hits and 16 earned runs in 17.2 innings. For the season, he is 6-4 with a 4.06 earned-run average, a 1.25 WHIP, and a FIP of 5.16.
Envisioned as a back-of-the-rotation starter when he signed a one-year contract in the off-season, Sugano has been relied on more heavily because Baltimore’s rotation has been problematic. Interestingly, a report appeared on June 9 positing that Sugano might be due for a regression. It focused on his expected ERA, FIP, and strikeout rate at the time, and also mentioned that his low strikeout rate made him more dependent on inducing hitters to chase pitches and not make hard contact.
He was not known as a strikeout pitcher during his 12 seasons in Japan, averaging 7.7 per nine innings there, but he’s been even less so during his first foray into MLB. His strikeout rate currently stands at 5.3 per nine innings.
Sugano’s expected ERA and FIP are 5.34 and 4.64, respectively. His walk rate remains very good, though, at just 1.83 per nine innings.
Yusei Kikuchi
Kikuchi, who has a history of inconsistency during his time in MLB, has nonetheless been mostly good the last two months for an Angels’ team that has been better than expected.
After an April in which he was 0-4 in six starts with a 4.31 ERA and bloated 1.60 WHIP, he turned it around with a 1.89 ERA in May and then was 2-1 with a 2.25 earned-run mark in June. Another positive sign was that, after walking 17 batters in May, he issued just nine bases on balls in 32 innings during June, lowering his WHIP from 1.52 to 1.37.
Overall, he is 3-6 with a 2.79 ERA. It will be interesting to see how his season continues, as his expected ERA is 4.13 and his expected FIP is 4.11. His walk rate of 4.1 per nine innings is much higher than the 2.25/9 of last season and his career mark of 3.24/9. On the other hand, his hard-hit rate is better at this point than in any of the previous four seasons.
After striking out a season-high 12 batters against Boston on June 25, Kikuchi said, “I’ve been able to throw both my slider and curveball for strikes to get ahead and put away guys, as well. Right now, it’s probably like 50/50 usage between those two pitches. And I think, as a hitter, I have them guessing over there.”
Yuki Matsui
Thanks to a couple of rough outings in the latter part of the month, Matsui ended with a 7.71 ERA in June. He pitched a combined 2.1 innings versus Washington and Cincinnati and allowed eight hits and seven earned runs. In his previous eight appearances in June, he had given up just one earned run over seven innings. The last two performances pushed his season ERA to 4.73 and his WHIP to 1.39. This could, of course, be an aberration, as his expected ERA, according to FanGraphs, is 3.64.
Though he was a closer in Japan with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, racking up 236 saves in 10 seasons, he is still being used primarily in setup situations during his second year with San Diego or entering games with the team behind or well ahead. He did get his first save as a Padre on June 19 against the Dodgers, but it doesn’t appear that he will be part of the late-inning mix unless the bullpen suffers a rash of injuries.
Thus far, Matsui’s walk rate in MLB is the same as it was in his NPB career – 4.0/9 innings – but his strikeout rate has decreased from 12.0/9 to 9.9/9.
Kodai Senga
After two very good outings in June that continued his hot start in 2025, Senga was placed on the 15-day IL on June 13 because of a Grade 1 right hamstring strain. In starts against Colorado and Washington, Senga gave up just six hits and one earned run in 11.2 innings, but he suffered the hamstring injury against the Nationals on June 12.
The initial projection was that he could miss up to five weeks of action, but later reports were encouraging.
He’s throwing,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That’s a good thing that, even right after the injury, he was able to keep the arm moving.” Senga made it clear that he’s on the road to recovery when speaking with the media on June 23. “I feel great. I’m recovering really well,” Senga said through his interpreter when asked about his injury, per an X post from SNY.
Senga had been outstanding in the early part of the 2025 season in the wake of a 2024 campaign in which he made just one regular-season appearance because of injuries. He is 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA, and a 3.19 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) mark, the latter currently better than in his first two seasons.
He has walked 4.0 batters per nine innings, though, and his strikeout rate is 8.6 per nine innings, compared to 10.3/9 in his rookie MLB season of 2023. In 11 seasons in Japan, he averaged 10.0 strikeouts and 3.4 walks per nine innings.
The forkball remains his best out pitch, as batters are averaging just .110 against it. Overall, hitters are averaging just .195 against Senga.
Roki Sasaki
The 23-year-old phenom’s introduction to MLB had had its ups and downs, and then a right shoulder impingement necessitated a May 14 move to the 15-day Injured List. He was then transferred to the 60-day IL on June 20, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the move is “more procedural” and doesn’t imply a setback. In fact, Sasaki resumed throwing, playing catch from out to 60-90 feet.
“I would say [he’s] pain-free,” Roberts added. “And then it’s just [a matter of] getting him to build up. But, most importantly, he’s pain-free.”
Still, there is no timeline for Sasaki’s return. In fact, Roberts said that “we have to plan on life without him as far as this year.”
Sasaki wasn’t healthy throughout any of his four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). 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.
Sasaki, who came to MLB with high expectations, has a 1-1 record, 4.72 ERA, 6.17 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), and 1.49 WHIP. He’s issued 22 bases on balls in 34.1 innings while striking out just 24. Opposing batters’ hard-hit rate is 43.8 percent.
Yu Darvish
Darvish, now 38, has not pitched yet this season because of what was first referred to as “general fatigue” and later elbow inflammation. He made a rehab start for Class AAA El Paso on May 14 and played catch at Petco Park on May 26. After not recovering further, he was placed on the 60-day IL on June 16, but there have since been encouraging signs. The latest is that he might be ready sometime in early July.
Darvish pitched in a simulated game on June 14 and in another at Class A Lake Elsinore on June 25. In the latter, he threw three innings and gave up three hits, no runs, one walk, and struck out six batters on 51 pitches.
The Padres have provided no timeline as to when Darvish could rejoin the team’s starting rotation. A report noted that “The expectation is that he will make a minor-league rehab start, but the Padres continue to not push the veteran right-hander. The important thing, team sources continue to insist, is that he returns to pitch well in the season’s final two months and the playoffs.”
Darvish also missed a significant amount of time in the 2024 season due to injuries and a personal issue.
Masataka Yoshida
Photo Credit: Tayla Bolduc
Yoshida has yet to play in 2025 because of a slow recovery from off-season labral repair of his right shoulder. The Red Sox had held him out at the start of the season because they wanted him to be able to throw from the outfield, and they ended up transferring him to the 60-day IL on May 22.
However, the Red Sox announced on June 29 that Yoshida would begin a rehab assignment at AAA Worcester on July 1.
“We believe he’s over the hump already, but now it’s push him with a little more work, more throws and all that stuff – back-to-back days – and see how he reacts,” Boston manager Alex Cora said.
Yoshida told reporters that he hopes to be activated before the All-Star break, while Cora just said, “We’ll see how many at-bats he needs. He’s moving well; his swing feels great.”
Yoshida had been in a tough spot because he is sub-par defensively and was blocked from the designated hitter spot by Rafael Devers, who moved there after the Red Sox acquired third baseman Alex Bregman in the off-season. But, with Devers now traded to San Francisco, that could open a spot for Yoshida, who DHed last season and in spring training this year.
NOTES: Micah Yonamine, grand-nephew of legendary Wally Yonamine, is now with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ development squad. Drafted out of high school by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2019, he was released after the 2022 season and played the next two seasons in the U.S. independent leagues. After batting .338 in 2024, he sent a highlight reel to each of the NPB teams and found a taker in the Fighters. He is currently averaging .264 with an .825 OPS . . . Kenta Maeda is still struggling after joining the AAA Iowa Cubs on a minor league contract. He has a 7.20 ERA and has given up 33 hits and 20 bases on balls in 33 innings . . . Female pitcher Ayami Sato of the Toronto Maple Leafs is 1-0 with an 11.25 ERA in seven appearances (two starts). She has allowed 17 hits in 9.1 innings . . . 27-year-old pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara signed a two-year deal with Washington in the off-season, but he was optioned to AAA Rochester where he made three starts covering 15 innings and was 1-1 with a 4.80 ERA. He then was sent to High-A Wilmington in the South Atlantic League where he is 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA in two starts . . . 18-year-old Japanese two-way (pitcher/infielder) prospect Shotaro Morii, now with the Athletics’ team in the Arizona Complex (Rookie) League, has a slash line of .275/.443/.425 after 25 games . . . Slugging first baseman Rintaro Sasaki, Japan’s all-time high school home run leader, averaged .269 at Stanford University this season with seven home runs, a .790 OPS, and 41 RBIs in 52 games. He is now playing for Cotuit in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League and averaging .091 with a homer and four RBIs after seven games . . . 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. He finished the season 2-6 with a 5.75 ERA in 14 starts and batted .256 with a .653 OPS. He, too, is in playing in the Cape Cod League – with Orleans, and is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA in three starts . . . Relief pitcher Koyo Aoyagi signed a minor-league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies in the off-season and was later sent to AAA Lehigh Valley, for which he posted a 7.45 ERA in 19 outings before being dropped to AA Reading . . . Shintaro Fujinami, who took a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training from the Seattle Mariners, has walked 26 batters in 18.2 innings for AAA Tacoma. He is 0-0 with a 5.79 ERA.
