Kosuke Fukudome touched on his puzzlingly disappointing five-year MLB career during March’s MLB opening series, saying he failed miserably in an area where current Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga has succeeded magnificently.

Because of MLB’s deeper talent base, very few players who go over in their prime are able to achieve success comparable to their achievements in NPB.

But no player who stayed any length in MLB suffered as big a drop in his contributions to team wins, measured by Bill James’ Win Shares, as Fukudome. Even Kazuo Matsui, who struggled mightily at first, eventually found his feet. 

And few players who returned years later have been able to produce the way Fukudome did when he came back to Japan with the Hanshin Tigers as a 36-year-old in 2013.

Speaking at Tokyo Dome, Fukudome said he was too old and too Japanese to make good adjustments to a baseball career overseas.