Why Are There So Many Japanese Players in Major League Baseball?
Shohei Ohtani and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto are just the latest in a long line of Japanese players making headlines in North America.
Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Rōki Sasaki. Photo illustration: RepresentASIAN Project; Images via Getty, MLB, Los Angeles Times.
During this year’s World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, all eyes were on two-way player Shohei Ohtani. In 2024, Ohtani made headlines after signing a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers. The contract was the largest in professional sports history at the time, and has since paid dividends: Ohtani reportedly brings in even more business than his contract’s hefty price tag, becoming the MLB’s biggest and brightest star. In his first season playing for Los Angeles, the Dodgers have already earned back the $700 million they spent on Ohtani through ticket sales, merchandising and marketing deals.
The Dodgers’ starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto also caught the attention of baseball fans during the World Series, especially after he threw a complete game against the Blue Jays. He also won the title of World Series MVP after finishing off Game 7 against the Jays to clinch the title for the Dodgers.
Ohtani and Yamamoto aren’t the only Japanese players who have made waves in North America. Yu Darvish, Rōki Sasaki, Ichiro Suzuki and Kenta Maeda, just to name a few, have all made headlines. But why – and since when – are there so many Japanese players in the MLB?
Ohtani (whose father was an amateur baseball player and coached the young Shohei), Yamamoto and most other Japanese players all got their start in Japan, playing professionally in the country’s MLB-equivalent Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). While baseball is often called “America’s pastime,” baseball has a long history in Japan and is a popular sport with about five per cent (about 7 million) of Japanese people playing. The sport is also popular in Taiwan, South Korea, India and parts of the Caribbean like Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Baseball in Japan got its start in the 1870s, when it was introduced as a sport for school children by an American professor at a school in Tokyo. The sport grew in popularity throughout the 19th century, with intense training regiments and disciplined students of the sport becoming the norm. In 1896, that popularity reached a fever pitch when a team from Ichikō High School defeated a team of foreigners in a game in Yokohama. Japanese tours by the Negro League All-Star teams in the 1920s and 30s also helped popularize the sport.
“The Asian-American athlete or role model was not prevalent. Nomo and Chan-Ho Park were really the pioneers, like Tiger Woods, Michael Chang, Yao Ming. There wasn’t really somebody though that you could turn on the TV and go, ‘Wow, that guy looks like me.’”
In 1934, the Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club, a pro team, was started. That same year, an American all-star team made up of iconic players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Lefty Gomez travelled to Japan as ambassadors for baseball. Japanese fans lined up to watch the team, which played and won 18 games throughout the country. Two years later, in 1936, Japan’s first professional league, the Japanese Baseball League, was established, though it suspended play during World War II. The league disbanded in 1949 and reformed a year later as the NPB.
Despite the long history of baseball in Japan, it was uncommon for NPB players to move over to the MLB. Part of it had to do with racism: Americans simply didn’t believe that Japanese players were as good as them. But it also had to do with contracts — the NPB did not allow their players to leave their league for decades. And while the NPB was a huge deal for Japanese baseball players, moving over to a bigger league like the MLB meant more money and more exposure.
It wasn’t until 1998 that a formal system was established that allowed NPB players to make the transition. Even then, the style of baseball in Japan — which favours consistency and hitting singles and doubles over emphasizing power — meant that Japanese players that did move to the MLB weren’t seen as stars because they didn’t hit glamorous home runs or throw fast-balls.
Ohtani’s arrival and his dominance in the sport has changed all that. Today, Japanese players are some of MLB’s most popular figures. The Dodgers have even tried to corner the market by snatching up Japanese free agents, like Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki. Coach Dave Roberts (who himself is half Japanese and the first coach of Asian descent to win the World Series) told The Athletic that the Dodgers “want complete market share of that country. We want every young player over there to be a Dodger fan. So when they have an opportunity to come over, it’s a no-brainer.”
Dodgers coach Dave Roberts (right) and his mother, Eiko Roberts (right), after throwing out a first pitch in 2018 at Dodger Stadium. Photo: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press.
For Asian baseball fans, seeing players that look like them is impactful, further inspiring more young Asian players to dream of playing in the MLB. As the Dodgers’ senior director of team travel Scott Akasaki told MLB.com, "The Asian-American athlete or role model was not prevalent. [Hideo] Nomo and Chan-Ho Park were really the pioneers, like Tiger Woods, Michael Chang, Yao Ming. There wasn't really somebody though that you could turn on the TV and go, 'Wow, that guy looks like me.'"
As rumours about this off-season’s hottest Japanese free agents and where they may sign circulate, it’s impossible not to feel excited about the future of MLB and Asian representation.