The First Former NPB Player to Become a Major League Coach! Mariners’ Shuhei Fukuda Shares His “MLB Struggles: A Story of Sweat and Tears”

“If it takes more than 10 seconds, it’s already too late.”

“Today I’m with the Tacoma Rainiers, a Triple-A team. I woke up at 9 a.m., had breakfast at a nearby Starbucks, and checked today’s practice schedule while drinking coffee. The game started at 6 p.m., but I arrived at the ballpark a little after 11 a.m. and was studying English on an app. Though when I say ‘studying,’ it’s really just middle school-level English.

When I come across words or expressions I don’t understand in conversations with fellow players and coaches, I use a translation app, and I review those as well. Today, the word ‘anticipate’ came up several times. The point is that as an outfielder, I have to anticipate various situations and move accordingly. ‘Anticipate’—I’ve got to figure out how to use that word…”

It’s been quite some time since Japanese players began making their mark in Major League Baseball, but Shuhei Fukuda (37) is the first former NPB position player to sign a contract with an MLB team as a coach. He joined the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 2007 as the first overall pick in the high school draft.

After stints with the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Kufu Hayate Ventures Shizuoka, this specialist in defense and baserunning retired in ’24. “I wanted to see all kinds of baseball,” he said, reaching out to MLB through his agency.Since last May, he has been traveling as a coach with the Seattle Mariners, visiting their academy in the Dominican Republic, as well as their rookie league, minor league, and major league teams, to teach defensive and baserunning techniques.

“After lunch, I help with the early-afternoon practice that starts at 1:00 p.m. We do some stretching and catch, then split into about three groups to work through the practice drills. I oversee outfield defense and baserunning.

Since outfielders take their positions in the outfield when they’re not batting, I communicate with them there and call out instructions during base-running drills. Since there’s only one hitting coach in the minors, I also serve as a batting pitcher. I sometimes serve as the first-base coach during games.”

After the game, the coaches have a meeting over dinner. Sometimes we don’t leave the ballpark until close to 11:00 p.m., but Fukuda says the “language barrier” is more challenging than the physical strain.

“If I hesitate while translating, the players will just walk away. If I take more than 10 seconds, it’s already too late. I feel anxious before every coaching meeting. I analyze and reflect on the previous day’s game and the players’ challenges in my own way, and I use AI to create materials in English. Even though I prepare meticulously, unexpected questions still come flying at me, so my heart is pounding.”

“A Home Run by Ohtani”—The Ultimate Hook

Last year, he participated in spring training as a trainee. Fukuda, who had never even played in the U.S., let alone in the majors, said people looked at him as if to say, “Who is this guy?”

“In Major League Baseball, there are still many people who think, ‘The level of Japanese baseball is below Triple-A.’ Since there’s a clear gap in objective data—such as the average fastball velocity of starting pitchers—it’s somewhat inevitable.

Even with title holders and MVP-winning stars like Shohei Ohtani (31) and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (27), the prevailing view is that ‘they’re special cases.’

However, I take pride in the fact that I’ve made my living through defense and baserunning. So, thinking, ‘Well then, let’s have them watch everything I do,’ I took my position in center field and moved around just as I would in an actual game.When I demonstrated the defensive technique I’d honed since my days with the Hawks—where I take my eyes off the ball as soon as a fly ball is hit and run at top speed toward the predicted landing spot—I was bombarded with questions like, “How can we get a start like Shuhei’s?” The way the coaches looked at me changed completely. In the U.S., it’s all about merit. By showing them my moves, I earned their recognition, which led to my subsequent coaching contract.

By the way… I mentioned earlier that “Ohtani and Yushin are special,” but the thing that goes over best with them in my career is that “I’ve hit two home runs off both Pitcher Ohtani and Pitcher Yamamoto.”Whenever a new player joins the team, my colleagues tell me, “Shuhei, show this guy the video of you blasting a home run off Ohtani—it’s your calling card!”

During a pre-game meeting before facing pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano (36, Rockies), we played footage of me hitting a home run off him, and the analyst said, “This is how you hit Sugano!” (laughs)”

Ichiro (52), Special Advisor to the Chairman and Instructor for the Mariners, says, “He’s probably respected more than you all imagine.”

“When he comes to the ballpark, not only the players but even the coaches can’t get close to him—they just watch from a distance. I learned some eye-opening techniques from Ichiro, a true legend.”

Last offseason, Fukuda accepted an invitation from the Mid-East Falcons of “Baseball United”—the first professional baseball league in the Middle East and South Asia—and played there for a month.

“I thought that if I could internalize the insights I’ve gained as a coach, it would be easier to convey them to the players. What is a coach? I’m still learning to answer that question, but for now, I suppose I’m ‘a partner who runs alongside players as they strive toward their ideals’—maybe?”

Coach Shuhei Fukuda’s support is, above all, passionate and powerful.

In the “FRIDAY July 10 Issue,” on sale June 25, and the paid version “FRIDAY GOLD,”
the issue features detailed coverage of the “super-dimensional skills” he learned from Mariners legend Ichiro, his “golden words of wisdom as a coach,” events from his Hayate days when he aspired to play in the U.S., and incidents that moved him to tears as a coach.

Click here to view the full article and more photos↓

From the July 10, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY”