From Nomo to Ichiro to Ohtani: Japan's baseball rise in MLB hits high point in Dodgers-Cubs series

TOKYO — Ichiro Suzuki was having his typical day on a baseball field in 2000, putting on a power display during batting practice before ripping line drives all over the field for the Orix BlueWave during a preseason doubleheader. American infielder Torey Lovullo, who was in the other dugout playing the final year of his career in Japan with the Yakult Swallows, couldn't believe his eyes. The 26-year-old's combination of speed, power and skill was off the charts. How did he not know about this guy? "I told my translator, 'Get me three baseballs,"' the current Arizona Diamondbacks manager said. "He needs to sign them. That's the best hitter I've ever seen." Lovullo was ahead of the curve in identifying a future Major League Baseball legend. Suzuki came to the United States the following year, signing with the Seattle Mariners, and embarked on a Hall of Fame career that included 3,089 MLB hits and a lasting legacy. Nearly 25 years after Suzuki's MLB debut, the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers will face the Chicago Cubs in two regular-season games in Tokyo, and Japanese players will be the centerpiece of the experience. Two-way Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is widely considered the best player in the world while teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki are important parts of the pitching staff. Over on the Cubs, Seiya Suzuki is one of the best hitters in the lineup, while Shota Imanaga is the ace pitcher. He'll face Yamamoto today in the first all-Japanese starting pitcher duel in MLB history. It's quite a moment for Japan, Japanese baseball and the dozens of players who slowly paved the road for today's generation to be such a big part of the American baseball scene. "Very excited — my family's very excited," Seiya Suzuki said. "I think it's a great opportunity to make memories over there." Japan's rise in the big leagues The first Japanese-born player in the big leagues was Masanori Murakami, who pitched for the San Francisco Giants during the 1964 and 1965 seasons. But it was thirty years later when pitcher Hideo Nomo came to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995 that Japan's presence in the big leagues really started to be felt. His unorthodox delivery — turning his back toward home plate during his windup — helped make him an immediate sensation and he won National League Rookie of the Year and made the All-Star team after finishing with a 13-6 record and 2.54 ERA. "It was on TV, so as a kid growing up, you'd see him pitch in the major leagues and that became a thing in Japan," said Atsuya Furuta, who was a star catcher in Japan from 1990-2007. "Baseball kids wanted to play in the major leagues." At first, it was mostly pitchers who came from Japan to play in the U.S. Shigetoshi Hasegawa was a quality reliever for the Angels and Mariners starting in the late 1990s, and Kazuhiro Sasaki was an All-Star closer for the Mariners in the early 2000s. But Suzuki was the one who opened the door for Japanese hitters, signing with the Mariners in 2001. "When Ichiro finally came over and began his rise in this game, it showed the way for other young Japanese players to see it was possible to come here," Lovullo said. "There was always an insecurity that they weren't big enough or strong enough and couldn't compete at this level. "But that's certainly never been the case in my opinion." After Suzuki's arrival, several Japanese hitters found success in the big leagues. Outfielder Hideki Matsui was an integral part of the New York Yankees from 2003-12, making two All-Star teams, hitting 175 homers and helping the franchise win the 2009 World Series. Outfielder So Taguchi helped the Cardinals win the World Series in 2006 and the Phillies earn the title in 2008. Kosuke Fukudome was an All-Star for the Chicago Cubs in 2008. That paved the way for the current generation that includes Ohtani, Seiya Suzuki and Boston's Masataka Yoshida, who has hit 25 homers over the past two seasons. Once a curiosity, players who come over from Japan are no longer a curiosity for American fans, instead becoming part of the game's landscape. Dodgers lead the way It's no accident that the Dodgers are at the forefront of showcasing Japanese baseball excellence. The franchise has a long history of seeking out racially and ethnically diverse talent. Jackie Robinson — baseball's first Black player — debuted with the franchise in 1947 when they were located in Brooklyn. In 1981, Mexican pitcher Fernando Valenzuela turned into a sensation and ended up having a stellar 17-year career. Then in 1994, pitcher Chan Ho Park was the first Korean in the big leagues. Nomo's arrival in 1995 was an extension of the franchise's ethos. Grace McNamee, who worked for the Dodgers in the mid-1990s, was one of Nomo's translators during his first few seasons and said former owner Peter O'Malley was always a champion for the sport's worldwide growth. "With the O'Malley family, they were all about globalizing the game," McNamee said. "It was really important for Peter to make sure that everyone — including the Japanese media — was able to be accommodated." Current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been a good caretaker of that legacy. His father was Black, his mother Japanese and the former MLB outfielder was born in Okinawa, Japan, on a U.S. military base. That background didn't hurt when recruiting the likes of Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki. The Dodgers manager visited Japan over the winter, dining with legendary slugger Sadaharu Oh, and takes pride in knowing the franchise is a destination for Japanese players. "Their experiences here playing in the states with the Dodgers has been truly a good one, and I think it's a responsibility for the Dodgers because I do think we're the epicenter globally for baseball," Roberts said. Today's generation The current generation of Japanese baseball players in America might be the deepest ever. Even outside of the Dodgers and Cubs, there are plenty of other players making their mark. Yu Darvish is a five-time All-Star who is still an important part of the San Diego Padres pitching rotation, while Yoshida is a key cog of the Red Sox lineup. Veteran Kenta Maeda is trying to have a bounce back season with the Detroit Tigers and finished second in the AL Cy Young award voting in 2020 when he was with the Minnesota Twins. The New York Mets are hoping Kodai Senga can regain his 2023 form, when the right-hander was an All-Star at the top of the rotation. Lefty Yusei Kikuchi — a 2021 All-Star — signed a $63 million, three-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels during the offseason. Kikuchi actually made his MLB debut in Japan with the Seattle Mariners when they played against the Oakland Athletics in the first two games of the 2019 season. He said the trip was a great chance to build camaraderie with teammates as they traveled the country. That trip was defined by the last two games of Ichiro Suzuki's career — a retirement party celebrating a baseball legend. This week, Ohtani will be the centerpiece. "It's a chance to showcase some Japanese talent over there and I think all of Japan is pretty excited about that," Kikuchi said. Even in American baseball's lower levels, Japanese players are making their presence felt. Two young stars — 19-year-old Rintaro Sasaki and 18-year-old Shotaro Morii — have made an early move to the U.S. Sasaki's a slugging first baseman who plays at Stanford while Morii is a potential two-way player who signed a $1.5 million minor-league deal in January with the Athletics. Lovullo, who was so in awe of Suzuki 25 years ago, can rightfully say he saw the revolution coming. "I felt like it was just a matter of time before more started to emerge," Lovullo said. "We want to have the greatest players in the world playing here in America and they come and represent themselves very well and make our game better."