BLAZING A TRAIL TO JAPAN

Fukuoka, Japan, is about 7,723 miles away from Carter Stewart’s hometown of Melbourne, Fla. The longest distance between any two points on earth is 7,926 miles, so he’s about as far away as he could get.

It’s a long way to go for a job, but Stewart had at least seven million reasons to sign a six-year deal last May with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, one of the top teams in the Pacific League of the Japanese major leagues.

Stewart, a 6-foot-6 righthander with a wicked curveball, was the Braves’ first-round draft pick in 2018. He declined to sign with Atlanta after it offered him