Yoshitomo Tsutsugo

Giants Agree To Deals With Daulton Jefferies, Yoshi Tsutsugo

By Anthony Franco | December 8, 2023 at 7:24pm CDT

Daulton Jefferies is in agreement on a deal with the Giants, the right-hander announced this morning. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle confirms it’s a minor league pact with an invitation to Spring Training. Additionally, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo has agreed to terms with San Francisco (X link). It seems fair to presume that’s also a minor league deal with a non-roster invite.

Jefferies sticks in the Bay Area. A Berkeley product, he was selected by the A’s with the 37th pick of the 2016 draft. Jefferies made his big league debut with one appearance in 2020. He pitched five times the following season and on eight occasions in 2022. In 14 career outings (10 starts), he has worked to a 5.75 ERA through 56 1/3 frames. He has a middling 15.2% strikeout rate while walking fewer than 6% of opponents.

The 28-year-old has lost most of the last two seasons to injury. He underwent thoracic outlet surgery in June 2022 before requiring a Tommy John procedure that September. Oakland ran him through waivers and off the 40-man roster last offseason. Jefferies missed all of last season and elected minor league free agency at year’s end. He’ll get a look in camp with former Oakland skipper Bob Melvin. Jefferies still has an option remaining, so the Giants could freely send him to Triple-A even if he earns a 40-man roster spot.

Tsutsugo, who recently turned 32, spent time in the San Francisco system this year. He signed with the Giants out of independent ball in August, playing in 17 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Tsutsugo, who hit .197/.291/.339 over 640 big league plate appearances from 2020-22, had posted a .249/.380/.432 line with Texas’ top minor league affiliate in the first half of last season.

Giants, Yoshi Tsutsugo Agree To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | August 21, 2023 at 5:19pm CDT

The Giants have reached agreement on a minor league pact with first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). The 31-year-old is looking to get back to the big leagues for a fourth consecutive season.

Tsutsugo began this season on a minor league contract with the Rangers. He spent a couple months in Triple-A, hitting .249/.380/.432 in 280 plate appearances. Tsutsugo opted out of that deal in late June but didn’t immediately land another affiliated opportunity.

Instead, he made the jump to the Atlantic League. Tsutsugo signed with the Staten Island FerryHawks but very quickly hit his way back out of independent ball. The left-handed hitter connected on seven home runs in 12 games, posting an overall .359/.479/.949 batting line in 48 trips. That excellent showing earns him another crack at Pacific Coast League pitching with the Giants’ top affiliate in Sacramento.

Tsutsugo has suited up for three MLB clubs since heading over from Japan during the 2019-20 offseason. He has struggled for the bulk of that time. Tsutsugo hit .187/.292/.336 in 77 games with the Rays, who had originally signed him to a two-year contract. Tampa Bay released him in the second season of that deal. He briefly caught on with the Dodgers before signing with the Pirates for the end of 2021. Tsutsugo had the best stretch of his career in Pittsburgh, hitting .268/.347/.535 in 43 games to close out that season.

The rebuilding Bucs re-signed him on a $4MM free agent deal that offseason. His production cratered, however, as he hit .171/.249/.229 through 50 contests before being released in August. Tsutsugo hasn’t returned to the big leagues since then, as successive minor league deals with the Blue Jays and Texas didn’t result in a call.

San Francisco has left-handed hitting LaMonte Wade Jr. and Joc Pederson as the primary first base/DH tandem. The offense has floundered lately, with each of Wade and Peterson putting up well below-average numbers since the All-Star Break (although the former has turned things around a bit in August after a dismal July).

Tsutsugo adds some depth to the upper minors. Since he’s in the organization before September 1, he would be eligible for postseason play if he hits well enough to warrant a look and should the Giants qualify. San Francisco currently occupies the second NL Wild Card spot but is just a game a half clear of the D-Backs, Reds and Marlins (the top non-playoff teams at the moment).

Yoshi Tsutsugo Opts Out Of Deal With Rangers

By Anthony Franco | June 22, 2023 at 7:49pm CDT

Corner infielder Yoshi Tsutsugo opted out of a minor league contract with the Rangers, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Texas allowed him to hit free agency rather than add him to the MLB roster.

The Rangers took a non-roster flier on Tsutsugo over the offseason. He didn’t get a big league look, instead spending the entire season with Triple-A Round Rock. He hit .249/.380/.432 over 280 trips to the plate. The left-handed hitter drew free passes at a huge 17.3% clip but went down on strikes over 28% of the time. He connected on six home runs, nine doubles and a pair of triples — fine but unexceptional power production for a bat-first player in the Pacific Coast League.

Tsutsugo will now look elsewhere in search of an MLB opportunity for what’d be the fourth consecutive season. He struggled early upon signing with the Rays and fared even worse in a cup of coffee with the Dodgers. Tsutsugo caught fire late in the 2021 season with the Pirates, though, popping eight homers in only 43 games.

Pittsburgh re-signed him in hopes he’d approximate that production over a full schedule. That didn’t happen, as he hit .171/.249/.229 in 50 contests last year before the Bucs released him. A late-season Triple-A run with the Blue Jays didn’t result in another MLB look. Tsutsugo heads back to the market with a career .197/.291/.339 line over 182 big league contests.

Tsutsugo has primarily played first base and designated hitter at the major league level. The Rays gave him a few looks at third base back in 2020. He didn’t see any time at the hot corner from 2021-22 but started 13 games there with Round Rock (in addition to 22 starts at first base and 16 outings as the DH).

Rangers Release Reyes Moronta, Joe McCarthy; Clint Frazier, Yoshi Tsutsugo Will Not Make Club

By Steve Adams | March 24, 2023 at 12:17pm CDT

The Rangers have released right-hander Reyes Moronta and outfielder Joe McCarthy, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The team has also informed non-roster invitees Clint Frazier and Yoshi Tsutsugo that they will not make the Opening Day roster.

Signing with the Rangers offered Moronta, previously a setup man with the Giants, the opportunity to reunite with former skipper Bruce Bochy. Spring training didn’t go as either Moronta or the team hoped, however, as he was roughed up for ten runs on nine hits and four walks with five punchouts in 5 2/3 innings.

The 30-year-old Moronta spent the 2022 season with the Dodgers and D-backs, working to a 4.30 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate in 37 2/3 frames. That was his healthiest season since 2019 surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. He missed the 2020 season and pitched in just 22 Triple-A frames in 2021.

Prior to that surgery, Moronta pitched 128 1/3 innings of 2.66 ERA ball with a huge 29.8% strikeout rate and a heater that averaged just over 97 mph. His velocity was down to 95.3 mph in 2022, however, nearly two full ticks below peak levels.

McCarthy, 29, appeared in 17 Cactus League games and batted .258/.343/.387 with a homer, a double, a stolen base, three walks and a dozen strikeouts. His candidacy for the left field job took a hit when the Rangers signed Robbie Grossman, who’s been the primary option in left this spring and will get a chance to run with a regular role there when the season begins.

Grossman’s arrival was also bad news for Frazier, who had a decent showing this spring, hitting .244/.311/.463 with a pair of homers, three doubles and a 14-to-4 K/BB ratio in 45 trips to the plate. The switch-hitting Grossman is much stronger from the right side of the dish than the left, which never seemed to bode well for the right-handed-hitting Frazier. The former top prospect, who had a nice run with the Yankees from 2018-20 when he hit .267/.351/.485 in 447 plate appearances, is still with the club for now and could open the season in Triple-A as a depth option.

Tsutsugo, 31, got a bit later of a start in camp. He appeared in 11 games and batted .240/.296/.400 with a homer, a double, two walks and eight strikeouts in 27 plate appearances. Tsutsugo was a feared slugger in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but has yet to acclimate to Major League pitching since signing with the Rays prior to the 2020 season. He’s a .197/.291/.339 hitter with 18 home runs in 640 Major League plate appearances. Like Frazier, he could be a depth option in Triple-A to begin the season.

Rangers Sign Yoshi Tsutsugo To Minor League Deal

By Mark Polishuk | January 15, 2023 at 7:15pm CDT

The Rangers announced that first baseman/outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo has been signed to a minor league contract. Tsutsugo’s deal contains an invitation to the Rangers’ big league Spring Training camp.

Tsutsugo came to the majors in the 2019-20 offseason, but Texas will be the fifth different organization Tsutsugo has suited up during his relatively brief time in North American baseball. A well-regarded slugger during his NPB career, Tsutsugo has only shown brief flashes of that form in MLB, hitting .197/.291/.339 over 640 plate appearances with the Rays, Dodgers, and Pirates.

Most of Tsutsugo’s offensive production came over a 43-game, 144-PA stint with Pittsburgh in 2021, which led the Bucs to re-sign him to a one-year, $4MM deal last offseason. Unfortunately for both sides, Tsutsugo managed only a .478 OPS over 193 PA in 2022, and he generated a sub-replacement level -1.3 fWAR. The Pirates released Tsutsugo in August and he caught on with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal, but Toronto never gave Tsutsugo a call back up to the majors.

Now entering his age-31 season, Tsutsugo will look for a fresh start as he tries to break camp with Texas. Tsutsugo offers a left-handed bat, a decent walk rate amidst his overall offensive struggles, and the ability to play first base and both corner outfield slots (though the Bucs only used Tsutsugo as a first baseman and DH in 2022). It makes for something of an imperfect fit on the Rangers roster, however, since starting first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and first-choice DH Brad Miller are also both left-handed hitters. The Rangers could see Tsutsugo as another depth option for its unsettled left field picture, even if Texas might prefer to see what it has in its younger players — assuming a much more established veteran than Tsutsugo isn’t ultimately acquired to take over the everyday left field job.

Blue Jays, Yoshi Tsutsugo Close To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | August 15, 2022 at 3:39pm CDT

The Blue Jays are close to signing first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo to a minor league contract, interim manager John Schneider indicated to reporters Monday (Twitter link via Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic). Yuki Yamada of Japan’s Sankei Sports first reported that Tsutsugo was likely to land with Toronto on a minor league pact.

The 30-year-old Tsutsugo began the 2022 season on a one-year, $4MM deal with the Pirates but was cut loose by Pittsburgh last week after hitting just .171/.249/.229 with a pair of homers and four doubles through 193 plate appearances. That output was miles from the .268/.347/.535 slash turned in by Tsutsugo through 144 plate appearances down the stretch with the Pirates in 2021. The Pirates are on the hook for the remainder of his salary, so the Jays would only owe Tsutsugo the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the Major League roster.

Once a star-caliber slugger in with Japan’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars — when he posted a combined .293/.402/.574 with 139 home runs, 116 doubles, five triples, a 15.1 percent walk rate and a 20.4 percent strikeout rate in his final four NPB campaigns from 2016-19 — Tsutsugo has struggled in the big leagues. Originally signed by the Rays to a two-year, $12MM contract back in Dec. 2019, Tsutsugo has drawn plenty of walks throughout his big league tenure (11.6%) but has struggled with strikeouts (26.9%) while showing a particular susceptibility to sliders.

Tsutsugo likely amounts to little more than a depth addition for the Jays at this point, though with a nice showing in Buffalo he could emerge as an option to give Toronto an extra left-handed bat when they pick up another couple roster spots in September. Following today’s DFA of outfielder Bradley Zimmer, the Blue Jays currently have just three left-handed hitters on the Major League roster — Raimel Tapia, Cavan Biggio, Jackie Bradley Jr. — none of whom are especially productive hitters. Tapia is the only one logging regular at-bats right now, and he figures to continue doing so in center field for at least a few days, with George Springer being eased back in as a designated hitter following today’s activation from the injured list (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi).

The righty-heavy Jays have still been one of baseball’s most productive clubs against right-handed pitching, but there’s little harm in picking up a lefty bat with some thump and taking a low-cost look at him in Triple-A in order to see if they can help to coax some more production out of his swing later this season.

Pirates Release Yoshi Tsutsugo

By Steve Adams | August 8, 2022 at 6:50am CDT

Aug. 8: The Pirates released Tsutsugo over the weekend, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com.

Aug. 3: The Pirates have designated first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo for assignment and recalled infielder Tucupita Marcano to take his spot on the roster, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Tsutsugo, 30, returned to the Bucs on a one-year deal after a big finish down the stretch with them in 2021. The former NPB slugger wasn’t able to replicate the production he gave Pittsburgh last August and September, however, limping to a .171/.249/.229 slash with just two homers and four doubles in 193 plate appearances this season. As the Pirates increasingly turn the roster over to younger talents who they hope will comprise their next competitive core, however, Tsutsugo increasingly looked as though his time with the team was dwindling.

With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the only options for the Bucs now are to place Tsutsugo on outright waivers or release waivers. Given that he’s still owed about $1.4MM of this season’s $4MM salary, he’ll assuredly go unclaimed on waivers either way.

The 22-year-old Marcano, acquired from the Padres alongside Jack Suwinski in last year’s Adam Frazier trade, will get another opportunity to establish himself at the game’s top level. He’s hit just .229/.280/.357 with the Pirates this year, but that’s been in just 78 plate appearances. Marcano is sitting on a .319/.417/.475 slash that he’s put together between Double-A and Triple-A while appearing at four defensive positions (second base, shortstop, third base, left field).

Pirates To Re-Sign Yoshi Tsutsugo

By Anthony Franco | November 24, 2021 at 9:23pm CDT

The Pirates are reportedly re-signing Yoshi Tsutsugo on a one-year, $4MM guarantee. The deal is pending a physical. Tsutsugo is represented by Wasserman.

The Bucs and Tsutsugo have been in contact about a potential extension over the past few weeks, so it’s not a huge surprise they’ve eventually agreed on terms. After stints with the Rays and Dodgers didn’t prove particularly successful, Tsutsugo latched on with the Pirates on a major league deal in mid-August. It was a month-plus trial run with a team already well out of contention, but Pittsburgh could afford to give Tsutsugo everyday playing time down the stretch.

The left-handed hitting first baseman took full advantage, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored in late September. Over 144 plate appearances in black and yellow, Tsutsugo hit .268/.347/.535 and popped eight home runs. In addition to tapping into the raw power he’d shown for a decade as one of the better hitters in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Tsutsugo cut his strikeouts substantially in Pittsburgh. After fanning in 29.4% of his 303 plate appearances with Tampa Bay and Los Angeles from 2020-21, he went down on strikes in only 22.9% of his trips to the dish as a Pirate.

It remains to be seen if that run was a sign that Tsutsugo had turned a corner late in his second major league season. There’s a real chance he can’t sustain that kind of output over more than a 43-game sample, and Tsutsugo’s overall numbers as a big leaguer (.209/.309/.388 in 447 plate appearances) aren’t particularly impressive. At a modest $4MM guarantee, though, there’s little risk for the Pirates in giving the 29-year-old (30 on Friday) an opportunity to try to build off his late-season success over an extended showing. If he continues to perform over next season’s first couple months, the rebuilding Bucs could either look to hammer out a longer-term extension or try to move him at next summer’s trade deadline.

Tsutsugo has experience at both first base and in the corner outfield as a big leaguer. When discussing the possibility of bringing him back last week, Pittsburgh general manager Ben Cherington suggested the club would primarily look to deploy him at first base if a deal came together. Now that an extension has been agreed upon, it seems Tsutsugo is in line to assume regular first base duties next season.

That could make fellow lefty-hitting first baseman Colin Moran superfluous. Moran, who was a league average bat over 359 plate appearances in 2021, is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $4MM arbitration salary and could be a non-tender candidate.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the Pirates and Tsutsugo were in agreement on a one-year, $4MM deal.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Quick Hits: Carpenter, Pirates, Tsutsugo, Braves

By Mark Polishuk | November 20, 2021 at 10:34pm CDT

Matt Carpenter has heard from a few teams about a potential contract, but he is “super prepared for an extremely slow free-agency pace here,” the former Cardinals All-Star told The Athletic’s Katie Woo. “I totally understand that I’m not necessarily a highly sought-after free agent and that there are a lot of unknowns going forward.” Even without the uncertainty of labor talks and a potential transactions freeze looming this offseason, Carpenter likely would have faced a thin market anyway considering his lack of production over the last three seasons.

However, Carpenter sees possible changes to the sport as helpful to his chances of landing a new job. Should the DH come to the National League, for instance, or “the potential of banning and limiting shifts” becomes a reality, Carpenter might draw more interest. Within a week of his 36th birthday, Carpenter reiterated that he wants to continue his career into a 12th big league season, but seemed at peace with whatever the offseason will bring. “If I play, no matter where, I’ll be perfectly happy with that,” Carpenter said. “And if I don’t, and if I’m staying home and going to be a dad and I finished my career with one and only one organization, I’ll be perfectly happy with that as well.”

Pirates Have “Had Dialogue” With Yoshi Tsutsugo

By Steve Adams | October 29, 2021 at 9:12am CDT

The Pirates have interest in re-signing first baseman/outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo and have already “had dialogue” with his camp, general manager Ben Cherington told reporters yesterday (Twitter link via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

Pittsburgh was Tsutsugo’s third organization in two MLB seasons. Originally signed by the Rays to a two-year, $12MM contract, the former Yokohama DeNA BayStars slugger was unable to find his footing in St. Petersburg or in Los Angeles, after being picked up by the Dodgers. The Pirates signed him midway through August and enjoyed a productive six-week stretch from Tsutsugo to close out the season.

It was only a sample of 144 plate appearances, but Tsutsugo swatted eight home runs as a Pirate — matching his 2020 season output — and notched an impressive .268/.347/.535 batting line down the stretch (134 wRC+, 136 OPS+). After punching out in nearly a third of his plate appearances between the Dodgers and Rays, Tsutsugo curbed that to a much more reasonable 22.9 percent. Statcast credited Tsutsugo with 10 barreled balls in Pittsburgh — just one fewer than he’d turned in through 303 plate appearances between Tampa and L.A. in 2020-21.

It’s not clear just what role Tsutsugo would hold if he did return to the Bucs, though given their rebuilding state, it wouldn’t be hard to slot him into the lineup. Colin Moran is currently slated to play first base in 2022, although with a projected $4MM salary and an injury-marred 2021 showing, he may not be a lock to return. Bryan Reynolds is obviously a lock in center field, but the corners are a bit more open for now. Ben Gamel may have played his way into a 2022 role, but there’s a fair bit of uncertainty. It’s also quite possible the National League will have a designated hitter in 2022, which would make it easier for the Bucs to get Tsutsugo in the lineup.

From a payroll vantage point, there’s obvious space for a handful of offseason additions. The Pirates, somewhat remarkably, don’t have a single guaranteed contract on the books in 2022. They have 11 players up for arbitration this winter, headlined by Reynolds, but those 11 names come with a combined projected salary of just $27.9MM — and some will surely be non-tendered.

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect