Yusuke Masago

Yusuke Masago (真砂 勇介)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 190 lb.

• High School Nishijoyo High School

• Born May 4, 1994 in Kyoto, Kyoto Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yusuke Masago played in Nippon Pro Baseball and represented both Japan and China on the international stage (his parents are from China).

He was a 4th-round pick of the Softbank Hawks in the 2012 NPB draft. He was 0 for 9 with a walk in the Japanese Western League in 2013, hitting .283 in the next-lower level of the Japanese minors. He spent the next three years in the WL, still not making it to the Pacific League; he batted .244/.293/.357 the first year, then .233/.276/.329 and .295/.329/.430 with 18 steals in 26 tries. He batted .290 in the Asian Winter League.

Starting in left for Japan in the 2016 U-23 Baseball World Cup, he was dominant at .387/.487/.935 with 4 homers and 11 RBI in 9 games for the champs; he had 6 putouts, 2 assists and no errors. He was second to Jacob Younis in runs, tied for 8th in hits (12, only 3 of them singles), tied Rowan Ebersohn and Ibrahim McKenzie for the most doubles (5), tied Connor MacDonald for the most dingers, tied for second in RBI, tied for 6th in walks (7), led in slugging (.091 ahead of Younis) and was second in OPS (58 behind Younis). He won the MVP and was an All-Star outfielder. In 2017, he slumped to .216/.271/.345 with 16 steals in 18 tries. He made it to the PL for the first time, when Seiichi Uchikawa was injured. He was 1 for 12 with a walk; his lone hit was a home run off Sachiya Yamasaki. He also spent most of 2018 on the farm, hitting .275/.353/.475 with 15 doubles and 9 homers in 78 games. He tied for 5th in the WL in doubles and was 4th in circuit clouts. He got into only one game for the big club, scoring a run and not batting. He was farmed out with teammates Ukyo Shuto and Jumpei Takahashi to the Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rican League but eked out a .185/.279/.241 line as their main left fielder. He had 39 putouts, 2 assists and no errors. In 2019, he batted .253/.320/.364 with 22 doubles and 26 steals in the WL but got into his most PL time yet (12 G, 23 PA; he batted .143/.182/.143). He led the WL in doubles and stolen bases. He finally saw more games (though fewer plate appearances) in the PL than the WL in 2020 and hit .314/.415/.514 in 41 appearances over 50 games for the Hawks. In the 2020 Japan Series, he singled off Kan Otake in his lone at-bat as the Hawks swept the Yomiuri Giants. Still primarily a defensive sub and pinch-runner in 2021, he did see increased action, batting .254/.295/.333 in 124 plate appearances over 79 games. He still played some time in the minors. In 2022, he was only 2-for-28 with 10 whiffs, and was primarily in the minors, where he hit .310/.375/.482. Had he qualified, he would have edged Ryota Ishioka for the WL batting title. Softbank let him go and he was picked up by Hitachi in the industrial leagues. He appeared for the Chinese national team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, one of the highest-pedigree players in team history (following Bruce Chen). He hit third and played center in the opener against his native Japan. He grounded out then struck out against tourney MVP Shohei Ohtani before doubling off Shosei Togo. It was the highlight of his Classic as he was 1-for-10 with a walk after that.