A history of Samurai Japan stars in Major League Baseball
Any baseball fan—and even many folks who don’t follow the game—could tell you about Jackie Robinson integrating Major League Baseball in 1947. But how about the first Asian-born player to make it to the bigs? That would occur nearly 20 years later, and it happened almost by mistake.
In 1964, the Nankai Hawks, a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Fukuoka, Japan, sent a few of its players to America to learn and gain experience. They’d pitch in the minor leagues, garner whatever knowledge they could from their American coaches, and return to Japan to apply all they’d learned. For pitcher Masanori Murakami, the plan worked well — almost too well. Pitching for the Class-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, Murakami was named the California League Rookie of the Year. He rocketed through the Giants’ minor league system, and at the end of the 1964 season, he earned promotion to the big-league club, becoming the first Japanese (and Asian-born player) in the MLB.
However, the Hawks always meant for this arrangement to be temporary. Though the Giants wanted to keep Murakami, the two teams compromised; he stayed in America for the 1965 season, then returned to Japan, where he continued pitching into the 1980s.
It might surprise even fervent baseball fans to learn that the next Japanese-born player in the MLB didn’t appear until the 1990s when pitcher Hideo Nomo took the league by storm. Nomo kicked down the door that Murakami cracked open for other Japanese players to enter the league.
Since then, many of baseball’s most exciting players have hailed from Japan, starring for NPB teams and Samurai Japan, the country’s national team, before making their MLB debuts. Here, we’ll highlight a few of Samurai Japan’s best players over the past few decades.
Shohei Ohtani
2024 Topps Update #US123 Shohei Ohtani
Obviously, we couldn’t start anywhere else but with Shohei Ohtani, right? The 29-year-old two-way superstar is the most electrifying player in the game today; even though he didn’t take the mound in 2024, he did earn his third MVP, inaugurated the 50/50 club, and won the World Series with the Dodgers. Not bad for the only being the DH this past season.
Before joining the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, Ohtani lit up NPB with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters starting in 2013. Two years later, when he was 21 years old, Ohtani was the staff ace for Samurai Japan — even on teams with established pros like Kenta Maeda. One of Ohtani’s first big international tournaments was the 2015 WSBC Premier12, during which he made two starts and earned a place on the organizing body’s All-World Team.
Although Ohtani earned a spot on Japan’s 2017 World Baseball Classic roster, he had to withdraw from the tournament with an ankle injury. The next time he donned the Samurai Japan jersey for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he was already an international superstar — but somehow, improbably, Ohtani’s star grew even brighter during the global showcase.
At the 2023 WBC, Ohtani was one of the best hitters and pitchers in the tournament. At the plate, he batted .435 with an astounding 1.345 OPS. He walked 10 times in seven games, as numerous opposing pitchers wouldn’t dare throw him something to hit.
On the bump, Ohtani was beginning to ramp up for the MLB season, so he didn’t pitch deep into games. But he was dominant in all three of his appearances, earning the win in each of his two starts and making a final appearance out of the bullpen in the championship game. Then, he etched an indelible image going toe-to-toe with his Los Angeles Angels teammate, Mike Trout. Tasked with preserving a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Ohtani struck out his Angels counterpart with a nasty full-count slider, earning the save, the game, and the championship.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
2024 MLB Topps Now #42 Yoshinobu Yamamoto
In his first appearance after signing his 12-year, $325 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto got shelled against the San Diego Padres, giving up five runs before being chased out of the game after the first inning. Of course, Yamamoto would figure things out and help the Dodgers go on to win the World Series.
Yamamoto’s first major international appearance was in the 2020 Olympic Games, which featured baseball for the first time in 12 years. Yamamoto anchored Samurai Japan’s rotation, confounding hitters and dazzling fans with 18 strikeouts across more than 11 innings. Yamamoto’s performance earned him a spot on the 2020 All-Olympic Team. Since no MLB players appeared in the Olympics, scouts and fans were eager to see how the righty fared against stronger talent in the 2023 WBC.
At that tournament, Yamamoto lived up to the hype. Though he (and every other player in the tournament, to be fair) stood in Ohtani’s shadow, Yamamoto didn’t disappoint. He fanned eight of the 13 batters he faced in his only start, surrendering only one hit and allowing no runs in four innings. He also appeared out of the bullpen in the semifinal game, keeping things close in the middle innings and allowing Samurai Japan to win on a dramatic walk-off in the bottom of the ninth. In all, Yamamoto had a win and 12 strikeouts in just over seven innings pitched.
Masataka Yoshida
2023 Topps Archives #295 Masataka Yoshida RC
Though the Boston Red Sox might’ve raised some eyebrows with the $90 million contract they handed outfielder Masataka Yoshida, he’s been a reliable presence in their lineup since his MLB debut in 2023. But just a month before that debut, Red Sox fans got their first chance to watch their new left fielder in the WBC, where he put on a show.
Batting cleanup right behind Ohtani, Yoshida batted .409 with a 1.258 OPS. The lefty set a WBC record with 13 runs batted in during the tournament — Shohei got on base a ton, remember?
Yoshida was named to the All-Classic Team and delivered arguably the most memorable moment of the tournament. Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Japan needed a spark to get back in the game. Facing a lefty-lefty matchup against Mexico’s Jojo Romero, Yoshida came to the plate with two runners on and two outs. Battling in a 2-2 count, Romero tried to get Yoshida out in front of an off-speed pitch down in the zone, but Yoshida hit a towering fly down the right field line that bounced off the foul pole and tied the game instantly. When he walked in the ninth inning, his pinch-runner scored the clinching run to advance to the final against the United States.
Kodai Senga
2024 Topps Series 1 #292 Kodai Senga
With newbie countrymen Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga making strong impressions on MLB mounds this past season, Kodai Senga hadn’t been at the forefront of every fan’s mind, especially since he only made four appearances in the 2024 season due to suffering a variety of injuries. But the New York Mets ace will be back soon, and we should hopefully see him return to stellar form.
Senga declined a spot on Samurai Japan in the ’23 WBC, instead preferring to stay with the Mets and familiarize himself with his new organization. But he did appear for the team in the ’17 WBC and dominated.
Senga made one start in 2017 but four appearances overall, mostly coming out of the bullpen to stabilize things in the later innings. In 11 innings pitched, he gave up only one run, fanning 16 batters (which tied for the overall tournament lead with teammate Tomoyuki Sugano). Samurai Japan finished third in the tournament, and Senga was the team’s lone honoree on the All-Classic Team.
Daisuke Matsuzaka
2015 Topps #133 Daisuke Matsuzaka
Only one player (for any country) has won World Baseball Classic MVP honors twice, and that’s Dice-K. Though Matsuzaka was a household name for baseball fans in the late 2000s, he entered his first World Baseball Classic as a 26-year-old veteran with very little name recognition outside of Japan. By the end of the tournament, that changed.
The 26-year-old Matsuzaka made three starts in the tournament, winning all of them by giving up only two runs across 13 innings on the mound. In the final, Matsuzaka tossed four innings and gave up one run, exiting with Samurai Japan up 6-1. Following the tournament, interest in Dice-K around the MLB soared; he ultimately signed a six-year contract with the Red Sox the following offseason.
After winning a World Series and lighting up the MLB, how would Matsuzaka perform in his second WBC? Well, it turned out that he was equally as dominant. Once again winning all three of his starts, Matsuzaka tossed more than 14 innings and only surrendered four runs. He pitched the semifinal against the United States in 2009, outdueling Roy Oswalt to send Samurai Japan to the final, where they defended their title with yet another victory.
The 2009 WBC later became a source of controversy for Matsuzaka, as he revealed that he suffered a hip injury training for the tournament that he concealed from Japan and which contributed to an injury-plagued 2009 MLB season. But when it counted in the WBC, Dice-K always got it done.
Keep an eye out for Roki Sasaki
2024 MLB Topps Now #OS-13 Roki Sasaki
Which of Samurai Japan’s young superstars might be next in line for an MLB breakout? Look no further than Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old flamethrower who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past January.
Coming into the ’23 WBC, Sasaki’s reputation preceded him. The year prior, he had thrown NPB’s first perfect game in 30 years. Then, in his next start, Sasaki threw eight more perfect innings. Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi pulled him from the game before the ninth because he wanted to protect Sasaki’s arm from overuse. With a blistering fastball that regularly exceeded 100 miles per hour, everyone was ready to see how Sasaki would handle the world’s top hitters in the WBC.
He handled them just fine. In two starts, Sasaki threw about eight innings and gave up three earned runs, striking out 11 hitters while only walking two. Sasaki has the pedigree to be the next dominant ace in the MLB.
