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Most people live in one country all their lives.
Joplin Outlaws pitcher Masayuki Maruhashi has lived in five different countries. He spent most of his childhood in Latin American countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala before attending high school in Saitama, Japan.
And currently his family lives in the Dominican Republic.
Maruhashi has spent the past two years pitching collegially in the United States.
Most recently, the COVID-19 freshman lined up for Highland Community College in Kansas this spring.
“I got to know a lot of different cultures and different baseball,” said Maruhashi in a telephone interview on Friday evening. “These countries are not good at baseball, but seeing different styles of baseball was a great experience.”
Oh, and it happens to be trilingual too.
“My mother is Mexican and my father is Japanese,” said Maruhashi. “They made sure I speak Japanese and Spanish. I learned English at school. “
Acclimatization of the States
As you would expect, Maruhashi is most comfortable speaking Spanish. He ranked Japanese as his second best language and admitted that he has a long way to go with English – widely considered one of the most difficult languages to master due to its unpredictable spelling and difficult grammar.
“I’m not going to lie, when I started doing this in first grade it took me a lot,” said Maruhashi. “I remember crying a lot during the tests because I couldn’t understand English. But since I’ve only been with American boys this summer (with the Outlaws), I’ve been feeling more and more comfortable with English. “
And the ability to speak English would be a must for Maruhashi. While in high school in Japan, he pondered what he would do after graduation. Baseball popped into his mind immediately as local legends like Ichiro Suzuki, Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani made their way to America and instantly became superstars in MLB.
“I wanted to play baseball in the US, where the major leagues are – the top level baseball,” said Maruhashi. “This is one thing that brought me to the States because I want to play at the highest level and see what it’s like in MLB.”
Maruhashi’s first stop in the US took him to the lower part of the Midwest, where he spent his first season of college baseball in the state of Western Oklahoma in 2020. Maruhashi quickly felt adapted to the country, especially with what he had been through before.
“The only problem was the food because it’s kind of greasy,” he said. “That was the biggest problem for me, but I didn’t play really well in Western Oklahoma. That was a huge level and I thought, ‘Will I be able to pitch like these guys?’ ”
Maruhashi eventually moved to Highland. He proved to be a viable helper with the Scotties, posting a team low average of 2.08 in seven appearances while hitting 11 thugs in 13 innings.
“The key was my breaking balls,” said Maruhashi. “If I can throw my breaking balls, a good position and for punches – that was what helped me the most – because American hits can just smash fastballs.”
Ironically, his coach at Highland was former Missouri Southern baseball assistant Landon Hay.
“His fastball moves between 85 and 88 mph,” said Hay. “I saw a 90 this year and then he threw a ball breaking at 56 mph. It’s an absolutely devastating differential. He calls it a rainbow curve, but we call it a gravitational ball because the wind just blows it out of the air. The guy masters several pitches and he is a competitor. We were definitely glad he was here. We enjoyed having him. “
Joining the outlaws
Maruhashi’s connection with Hay put him on the outlaw list that summer, joining his Highland teammates Austin Gottula and Ward Richardson. He is referred to by his teammates as “Mas” – short for his first name.
In seven games for Joplin this summer, the righty has a 1-0 record with a 3:00 ERA and fanned 14 batter over 15 innings. Maruhashi also showed he can be versatile as he made two starts and scored a save.
“My main goal for the summer ball was to increase my speed and try to throw harder,” said Maruhashi. “For the first three weeks I had problems trying to change the mechanics and it was difficult to change that during the season. But after that I started getting it again. I think that with my mechanics I got better than at the beginning of this summer and it became clear to me what I as a pitcher need to improve overall.
Maruhashi has benefited from his successes lately. On July 17, he announced his commitment to continue his college career at Clarke University, Iowa.
“He’s got that calm confidence,” said Outlaws manager Chris Dawson. “Every time he takes the ball, he knows he’s going to go out and do a good job. He’s a great person and a great teammate. I know it’s huge for him that he got involved with Clarke University in Iowa. Congratulations to him, a big step in his career. “
Maruhashi also said that he would like to learn a fourth language – one that is preferably similar to Spanish or Japanese. For the time being, he’ll continue to enjoy an American main course that isn’t exactly served on a silver platter in Latin America or Japan.
“Steak,” said Maruhashi with a laugh.
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