The Japanese will be few in the 2023 MLB season, when the fans compare the number of players from the Caribbean Islands, Mexico and Venezuela with those from Japan the number is very low.
But despite the fact that they are a small group of players within Major League Baseball, the Japanese have top notch contracts and play on the best teams.
For the 2023 season, the same number of Japanese players are expected to remain in the league, no new signed players from Japan have been announced so far. Three players will debut in 2023.
How many Japanese players are in the 2023 MLB season?
Seven Japanese players will play in the 2023 MLB season, three of them will play for the first time in the 2023 season, while the most experienced active Japanese player in the MLB is Yu Darvish, he debuted in 2012.
| Player | Position | MLB Debut | Games* | Team(s) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yu Darvish* | SP | April 9, 2012 | 242 | Texas Rangers (2012–2017) Los Angeles Dodgers (2017) Chicago Cubs (2018–2020) San Diego Padres (2021–) |
Active |
| Kenta Maeda* | SP | April 6, 2016 | 181 | Los Angeles Dodgers (2016–2019) Minnesota Twins (2020–) |
Active |
| Shohei Ohtani* | TWP | March 29, 2018 | 581 | Los Angeles Angels (2018–) | Active |
| Yusei Kikuchi* | RP | March 21, 2019 | 102 | Seattle Mariners (2019–2021) Toronto Blue Jays (2022–) |
Active |
| Seiya Suzuki* | RF | April 7, 2022 | 111 | Chicago Cubs (2022–) | Active |
| Masataka Yoshida* | OF | – | – | Boston Red Sox (2023–) | Active |
| Kodai Senga | P | – | – | New York Mets (2023–) | Active |
| Shintaro Fujinami* | P | – | – | Oakland Athletics (2023–) | Active |
Ichiro Suzuki is one of the most remembered Japanese in the MLB, he played a total of 2,653 games from 2001 to 2019, setting a record almost impossible to break until now. Historically most of the Japanese players in the MLB were pitchers.
