Asians in baseball are cruising in May!

First up, Japanese rock band ONE OK ROCK throws out the first pitch at a Mariners game, and the Baseball Hall of Fame's YAKYU exhibit opens in July.

Then, pitching news?! Before position players?! We're crazy for that one! Sugano, Kikuchi, and Senga get the Ohtani treatment with solid outings not resulting in wins, Brennan Bernadino's May ERA remains a pristine 0.00, and Woo and Yamamoto remain atop the charts.

In position player news, Rob and Stuart also shine despite team losses, Travis d'Arnaud's first homer of the year puts the Angels ahead (cries in Dodger fan), Hyeseong and Seiya lead all MLB in quad strength (unofficial), and IKF celebrates his Hall of Fame lineage.

And Ohtani is on one of his famous hot streaks, though he stays humble by getting struck out swinging by the A's backup catcher, gets intent balked by a former Dodger, and keeps improving his arm.

It's May, and you know what that means...AANHPI Heritage Month!

First, we chat on-the-ground reporter Naomi's visit to Target Field to see Trevor Larnach and Lee Jung Hoo in the flesh, Stephen Nelson's dedication to pronouncing Asian names correctly, and MLB's AAPI Heritage Month posts.

Then, our guys were making moves...on and off the roster. Connor Wong and IKF return from the IL, but a buuuunch of guys go on it, and Matt Bowman and Kenta Maeda are DFAed by their clubs. In AAPI Heritage Month?! Is that even legal?!

Player news is positive this week, with Steven Kwan having a stellar May (not to mention a sweet article about his mom), Kim Hyeseong is finally called up to the majors, and pitchers stay strong despite an L here and there.

And somewhere in there, the Kpop and Kbaseball worlds collide as Naomi declares which Korean MLB player corresponds with which member of BTS.

Article about Stephen Kwan's mom: https://www.mlb.com/news/steven-kwan-s-mom-key-to-his-success-with-guardians

Asians in baseball are in the swing of things!

First, the LA Kings have the Koreatown Senior Center for a harmonica half time performance, and on Dave Roberts' Bobblehead night, he gives back to the LA community impacted by the fires.

Our position players are blazing through April with Rob Refsnyder smashing the hardest hit homer of his career, Anthony Volpe shutting up the haters, Trevor Larnach mashing three homers since our last recording, and Steven Kwan on a 10-game hit streak.

In pitching news, Tomoyuki Sugano has found his groove, Joey Cantillo possibly prepares to join the Guardians' starting rotation, and who is on top in the battle of Shohei vs. Shota?

Asians in Hockey: https://open.spotify.com/show/1EmXiaE847jr4LuBj2D3Rx

Steven Kwan article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6303184/2025/04/24/steven-kwan-four-tenets-success-peak/