Yoshida working through jet lag; adjustments are showing

This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter, with Julia Kreuz filling in. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Traveling around North America has been an eye-opening experience for Masataka Yoshida. The challenge now is closing his eyes at the right time.

Yoshida has proven he’s willing and able to adapt to the new set of hurdles that came with moving from Japan to Boston this offseason. The on-field ones were obvious: a different style of play, pitchers he’d never faced before, a lot more grass than artificial turf. Then, there was the climate, the food and the new teammates.

But a peculiar and persistent challenge has been jet lag.

“I’m still working on it,” Yoshida said through interpreter Keiichiro Wakabayashi during Boston’s three-game set in Toronto. “Every single time I’m thinking, ‘Should I sleep on the flight to get used to the time [of] where I’m going to go?’ So that’s what I do.”

He likely isn’t alone on that front, though the intricacies of bouncing around from the West Coast to Central Time and then back to Boston usually go unspoken.

Unlike most of his teammates, Yoshida didn’t get a chance to get used to a hectic travel schedule in the Minor Leagues. Before joining the Red Sox, the 29-year-old shined in his seven-year career in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, where all teams play in the same time zone and the maximum flight time between ballparks is around 3 1/2 hours.

“It’s a challenge,” said manager Alex Cora. “ … Compared to Japan, it’s different. And it’s going to get worse in the coming weeks.”

Those struggles were most visible through the first month of the season, as Yoshida batted .193 with a .594 OPS through his first 15 big league games, prompting questions about the Red Sox’s decision to sign him to a five-year, $90 million contract.

But Yoshida found a routine that worked for him, incorporating pre- and postgame habits that helped him mitigate the effects of playing in different time zones. As a result, he surged in May, when his club made stops in Philadelphia, Phoenix, Anaheim and San Diego.

Fatigue seemed to creep on Yoshida again in late June, as he went hitless through four contests against the White Sox in Chicago and a home series vs the Marlins. After a couple of days back on Eastern Time, though, he looked like himself again.

“Little by little he's getting used to it,” said Cora. “And we do everything possible to help him out with that. … We'll take care of him. And the more we take care of him, the more he's going to take care of us.”

Yoshida went 7-for-8 with a homer and two RBIs in two games against the Blue Jays in Toronto over the weekend. He was forced to sit out the series finale after being hit on the right leg by a 102 mph fastball the day prior.

Yoshida’s calf X-rays came back negative, so he should return to the lineup sometime before the All-Star break. To Cora’s point, though, travel will get more intense. The Red Sox open the second half with a six-game road trip in Chicago and Oakland before coming home for five contests. They head to the West Coast from July 28 to Aug. 2 to face the Giants and Mariners.

It'll get easier with time. For now, the reclaimed offensive production should give Yoshida some peace as he rests his head on his pillow -- or his seat on the team plane.