BOSTON (AP) — The struggling Boston Red Sox could be getting some offensive help soon.
Manager Alex Cora said Masataka Yoshida would start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday. The 31-year-old DH/outfielder has been out the entire season following surgery on his right shoulder in October.
“He’ll go on a rehab assignment. We’ll see how many at-bats he needs,” Cora said Saturday before the Red Sox faced the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. “He’s moving well, the swing feels great, the throwing has been a lot better. He’s been able to bounce back, so we just have to map it out and see how we’re going to do it.”
Cora said he’d also play some games in the outfield. Last season, he was primarily the DH, getting into left field only once in 108 games.
In his first season in 2023 after signing a $90-million, five-year free agent deal with the team, he played 85 games in left.
On Saturday, Yoshida was shagging fly balls during batting practice in right field, ran the bases while others were hitting and took BP.
Also, third baseman Alex Bregman, who has been sidelined since late May with a strained right quad, ran lightly in the infield, and took grounders at third, throwing across the diamond before the Red Sox took BP.
“He’s just finishing taking ground balls,” Cora said. “It was a good day for him and Masa.”
When he was injured, Bregman was one of the club’s most productive hitters, batting .299 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs in 51 games.
Cora recently said the 31-year-old Bregman isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break.
Boston entered Saturday on a season-high six game losing streak, its longest since September 2022. The Red Sox dropped the opener of a three-game series against Toronto, 9-0, on Friday night.
The Red Sox signed Bregman as a free agent to a $120-million, three-year contract in mid-February.
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