The Yankees’ forays into the Japanese market have produced some mixed results. The signing of Hideki Matsui was an absolute success, as he was a very good player for the Yankees for many years, and capped
it off by winning World Series MVP in 2009. On the other hand, the acquisitions of pitchers Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa were, uh, less great.
In the 2013-14 offseason, one of the hottest names on the market was another Japanese pitcher. Having just led the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to a Japan Series title, Masahiro Tanaka was sought after around MLB. The Yankees were among that chasing pack, and they ended up winning the fight. In the end, his highs were not quite as the ones experienced by Matsui, but it’s hard to argue that Tanaka wasn’t a success, and he came up with some big playoff moments of his own.
Masahiro Tanaka
Signing Date: January 22, 2014
Contract: Seven years, $155 million
Thanks to a dominant career in Japanese high school baseball, Tanaka was long on the radar of NPB teams. When he was finally eligible to be selected in the NPB Draft, the Golden Eagles did so in 2006. He debuted as an 18-year old the following season and quickly cemented his place as a star for the team, winning the league’s Rookie of the Year Award.
Having only been founded ahead of the 2005 season, the Golden Eagles hadn’t done much of anything before Tanaka’s arrival, but he helped them to their first ever playoff berth in 2009. Over the next couple years, Tanaka continued improving and began to dominate. His most impressive season came in 2013, as he posted a crazy 24-0 record with a 1.27 ERA with 183 strikeouts in 212 innings. The Golden Eagles went on to win their first — and so far only — Japan Series title that year. In the series, Tanaka allowed just one run in a Game 2 win, threw 160 pitches in Game 6, and then came back the very next day and recorded the save in the Game 7 win. It was a truly remarkable effort.
Not that he wasn’t already on MLB team’s radars, but the remarkable season turned Tanaka into probably the top pitching name on that year’s free agent market. The Yankees always seemed to be one of, if not the top, favorites to land Tanaka, and they eventually did so in January 2014, inking him to a seven-year deal worth $155 million.
When big-name Japanese imports come to MLB, there’s always a big spotlight on them, and it was no different for Tanaka, especially considering that he was playing in New York. He made his MLB debut on April 4th in Toronto, going seven innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits, with eight strikeouts as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays, 7-3.
His first truly astounding MLB start came in his third game, when he threw eight shutout innings and struck out 10 against the Cubs. Tanaka mostly kept cruising through his debut season, putting up a 2.27 ERA through July 3rd, making the All-Star team and getting himself in award contention. However, he struggled in his next start, and hit the IL after that with what turned out to be a partially torn UCL. Despite some saying that he and the Yankees should just bite the bullet with Tommy John surgery, they opted to rehab the injury. As it turned out, he would never need to go under the knife over the entirety of his Yankees career.
Tanaka’s rookie campaign saw him finish fifth in Rookie of the Year. In 2015, he made his first ever MLB Opening Day start, and was given the ball in the Yankees’ Wild Card Game loss, which was due more to the nonexistent offense than his two runs in five innings. In 2016, he had probably his best MLB season, finishing seventh in Cy Young voting after a 4.7 fWAR year.
The 2017 regular season was a bit of a down one compared to his previous years, but once the postseason came around, he began to establish his reputation as a big game pitcher.
With the Yankees’ backs against the wall in Game 3 of the ALDS against Cleveland, Tanaka threw seven shutout innings as the Yankees won the game and rallied to win the series. In the next round, he repeated that effort in Game 5, giving the Yankees a 3-2 edge in the ALCS against the Astros. While the Yankees never ended up winning a ring during Tanaka’s tenure, he stepped up in the playoffs in most of the games he was called on. While there were some blips in his final season with the team, over his seven-year deal, he had a 3.33 ERA and 0.981 WHIP in 10 postseason starts, with the Yankees going 6-4. Only one of those four losses can be fully put on him too. In the other three, he allowed just seven total runs, getting just four runs of support combined.
Tanaka had an opt-out after the 2017 campaign, but he decided to stick around on his initial contract. Across those final three years, he dropped off a bit as he aged, but still made his second All-Star team in 2019 while posting a 107 ERA+ and 6.4 fWAR across a steady 368 innings of work from 2018-20. The Yankees opted to let him walk in free agency after the COVID-shortened 2020 season. As it turned out, Tanaka would walk away from MLB entirely and opted to return to Japan and rejoin his old Golden Eagles team. Playing in NPB allowed him be part of the Japan national team when they won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
After a couple seasons with the Golden Eagles, Tanaka signed with the Yomiuri Giants — often called the Yankees of NPB — where he’s preparing to play the 2026 campaign. This past year, he became the fourth pitcher to accumulate 200 wins between MLB and NPB play, joining Hideo Nomo, Yu Darvish, and former Yankees teammate Hiroki Kuroda.
On the field, Tanaka was a competitor who was never satisfied, no matter how good his last start was. Off the field, he always seemed like a genuine and nice guy, who’s missed on the Yankees’ roster in that aspect. He was a lot of fun to root for across his seven years in pinstripes.
See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.
