Gregory Polanco, NPB Yomiuri ‘retired’ after a year
Gregory Polanco, NPB Yomiuri ‘retired’ after a year
Outfielder Gregory Polanco (31) is expected to leave the Yomiuri Giants.
Japan’s Sports Hochi reported on Wednesday that Polanco would leave the team. Polanco entered the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in January amid high expectations. Yomiuri guaranteed an annual salary of 250 million yen (estimated 2.4 billion won) under a single-year contract to wear Polanco’s uniform number 23.
Polanco played in 138 games this season, batting .240 (105 hits in 438 at-bats), 24 home runs, and 58 RBIs. He hit a lot of home runs, but his on-base percentage was low at 0.306, and his batting average for scoring was 0.183, which was not good. Sports Hochi also said, “He was used as a right fielder in the first half of the season, but he left a task in defense.”
A native of the Dominican Republic, Polanco made his big league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2014. In 2016 and 2018, he was recognized for his punch power by hitting 22 home runs and 23 home runs, respectively. His career record in Major League Baseball (MLB) until 2021 is 0.241 96 home runs and 362 RBIs. Kang Jung-ho once played on the ground as a Pittsburgh teammate. Starting in 2019, individual performance plunged and turned to the Asian League last year. Attention was drawn to wearing the NPB’s most prestigious Yomiuri uniform, but it was packed in a year.
