Former Yankees Slugger Luke Voit Arrives in Intriguing New Baseball Home

Luke Voit has taken his talents to Japan

This could be a pretty monstrous combination. Even Godzilla-esque, shall we say? Former MLB home run king and New York Yankees slugger Luke Voit has arrived in the latest destination of his baseball odyssey, set to launch mammoth blasts for the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan.

Luke Voit arrives in Japan to play for the Rakuten Golden Eagles https://t.co/lQcut6iqKX
— US-Japan Baseball Diplomacy Project (@bdpusj150) June 22, 2025

After flaming out in the majors after the 2023 season, the hulking first baseman and DH made his way to Mexico to recapture his power stroke, which he did in spades, launching 23 longballs with 57 RBIs in 81 games. He followed that up with a similar display this year, blasting 12 homers with 26 RBIs in 41 games, while batting .314 with a .420 on-base percentage and a 1.015 OPS. Enough to get the Golden Eagles to sign the 34-year-old.

Voit made a name for himself in North America with a nice three-year run with the Bronx Bombers, culminating with his winning of the major leagues' HR title in the shortened 2020 season, with 22 dingers in just 56 games with a .948 OPS. Overall, in parts of four seasons with the Yankees, he had an .883 OPS, and a 137 OPS+.

He just couldn't find the range any longer by later 2022 and 2023 in short stints with the Washington Nationals and the Milwaukee Brewers, so he headed south of the border last year.

Now Voit is headed overseas, where he hopes to pulverize Japanese pitching and hopefully win himself another potential contract in the majors by next season.

In seven MLB seasons, he had a .253 average with an .807 OPS (121 OPS+) with 95 home runs.