The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball have signed Luke Voit to a contract for the remainder of the 2025 season. News of the signing first emerged a couple of weeks ago, and Voit just this weekend arrived in Japan once terms were finalized.
Voit is best known for his torrid stretch of hitting with the Yankees from 2018-2020. Acquired at the 2018 trade deadline in a deal with the Cardinals, Voit immediately caught fire once donning the pinstripes, and quickly became a lineup fixture as a first baseman and DH. Voit’s huge run was highlighted by a 22-homer season in 2020, which led the major leagues during the pandemic-shortened campaign.
Injuries limited Voit to just 68 games in 2021, however, and the Yankees parted ways with Voit by dealing him to the Padres during the spring of 2022. Since that deal, Voit hit only .225/.305/.386 with 22 homers over 642 plate appearances with San Diego, Washington, and Milwaukee over the 2022-23 season, and he hasn’t appeared in the majors since his brief stint with the Brewers in 2023.
Voit signed a pair of minor league contracts with the Mets that didn’t result in any time in the big leagues, and his pro experience in 2024-25 has consisted of 122 games with two different Mexican League clubs. Since the 34-year-old Voit has been crushing Mexican League pitching, he might have something to offer the Golden Eagles as a veteran bat. The Eagles are last in NPB in home runs, with only 25 long balls over 66 games this season.
Tohoku should prepare itself for the chest hair
Use the moss, Luke!
ルーク、お前の父は私だ” (
Honestly thought he was done. Hope this works out for him, though!
I’m glad Luke Voit is getting another shot!!!
I hope it works out great for him!!!
Stil may be better than Lowe at `1B.
Is the NPB very pitcher friendly? 25 HRs as a team in 66 games is pretty wild.
Totally different game/strategy. They aren’t chasing homers, focused on putting ball in play and moving runners (on offense). Most of the big bats have come stateside (Ohtani, Seiya, Yoshida)
Will Luke be required to wear a shirt with sleeves or can he show off the guns even though they haven’t been loaded for the last several seasons?
I think Luke’s return to MLB dream is dead, but he should earn 4X or 5X the salary he was making in Mexico by moving to the NPB. I hope he does well and gets re-signed for next season there too.
25 Hr as a team in 66 games JFC