Foreign players facing another lonely NPB season
The signs of baseball spring are popping up all across Japan this month. Veteran players are emerging from winter vacations and ramping up their individual workouts for the upcoming season. Rookies are stirring too, with some with their teams taking part in voluntary individual ...
Justin Smoak's departure puts family issues in spotlight in NPB
Family was the dominant theme in NPB last week. The Japanese baseball world received some stunning news on Thursday, when it was revealed Yomiuri Giants infielder Justin Smoak was leaving the team, and Japan, in order to be with his family. Justin Smoak left the Giants ...
Giants' Smoak leaving Japan to be with family during pandemic
"His love of family outweighed everything else," said Atsuhiro Otsuka, the club's assistant representative to NPB.
Justin Smoak homered and drove in three runs to lift the defending Central League champion Yomiuri Giants past the Pacific League's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4-3 on Sunday in interleague action. Smoak singled in two first-inning runs off Tsuyoshi Wada (3-3), and after Kazuma Okamoto broke ...
Zelous Wheeler powers Giants to victory over former team in interleague opener
Wheeler gave the Giants the lead with a three-run home run against the Eagles.
Eric Thames' injury mars debut of Giants' high-profile foreign stars
After everything it took for Thames to get to Japan, he’s now heading back to the U.S. for surgery after less than three full innings in NPB.
The Yomiuri Giants have agreed to a contract with longtime major league first baseman and designated hitter Justin Smoak, the Central League champions said Thursday. Yomiuri will sign the 34-year-old switch hitter as a free agent from the San Francisco Giants on a two-year deal ...
The 34-year-old will arrive in Japan with 96 career home runs — 75 after he joined the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017.
