WBSC Premier12 2015 star Tsutsugo to stay with MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates
The 30-year-old left-handed slugger finally played up to expectations after disappointing stints with the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
WBSC Premier12 2015 star Yoshitomo Tsutsugo has revived his Major League Baseball (MLB) career going 34-for-127, .268 batting average, with eight home runs and 25 runs batted in (RBIs) in 43 games of the 2021 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates are willing to extend his contract to the 2022 season.
Tsutsugo, a five-time Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) All-Star during ten seasons with the Yokohama DeNA Baystars, signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays worth US$ 12 million in December 2019.
Tsutsugo homered on his first game with the Rays, but his rookie MLB season was not to remember. He appeared in 51 games during the 2020 COVID-shortened 2020 season, hitting eight home runs but posting a mediocre .197 batting average.
The 30-year-old left-handed slugger played 26 unsuccessful games (.167 batting average, no home runs) for the Rays in 2021 before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. After hitting .120 with no home runs in 12 games, he moved to Pittsburgh.
Tsutsugo started five games in left field and three as the designated hitter (DH) for Samurai Japan at the WBSC Premier12 2019. He went 10-for-26, .385 batting average.
