NPB Tracker

Not too long ago, I stumbled across the information that former Rakuten Eagle Yuji Yoshioka is playing in the Mexican League. He’s off to a pretty good start, hitting .302/.409/.469 through 29 games.

Former SoftBank Hawk Michinao Yamamura also played in the Mexican League this year, but has apparently been release after putting up an 8.22 era in 15.1 innings.

Several former suketto such as Pedro Valdes, Derrick White, and Nerio Rodriguez are active in the Mexican League this season as well.

Add Yuji Yoshioka to the list of former NPB’ers aiming to catch on in the US. Sanspo is reporting that Yoshioka has hired Ray Pointevint as his agent and departed for LA to work out. Yoshioka, 37, was released by Rakuten after last season, and was passed over by all the NPB teams after his November tryout. He was a key guy in Kintetsu’s fun 2001 team, but hasn’t done much since the early part of the decade.

Yoshioka is also open to a move to Korea or Taiwan.