Not What You Meant? There are 17 definitions for Matsui.

Kazuo Matsui

About 5 pages (1,537 words)

Know this topic well? Help others and get FREE products!

**Kazuo Matsui**

Houston Astros — No. --
Second Baseman
Born: October 23 1975 (1975-10-23) (age 32)
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
April 6, 2004 for the New York Mets
Selected MLB statistics (through 2007)
AVG	.272
Hits	376
HR	17
RBI	131
Stolen Bases	62
Teams
Seibu Lions (1995-2003) New York Mets (2004-2006) Colorado Rockies (2006-2007) Houston Astros (2008-present)

Kazuo "Kaz" Matsui (松井稼頭央, Matsui Kazuo^?) is a Japanese Major League Baseball player and switch-hitter for the Houston Astros. He plays second base and shortstop. Matsui was born on October 23, 1975 in Osaka, Japan. He is not related to Hideki Matsui, who plays left field for the New York Yankees.^[1] Prior to joining MLB, Matsui enjoyed success as a seven-time Best Nine award winner (1997 - 2003) with the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League. He played there from 1995 to 2003. One of his best years was 2002, when he had a .332 batting average with 36 home runs, 87 RBI, 193 hits, 119 runs, 46 doubles, 6 triples and 33 stolen bases. He received four "Golden Glove" awards while in Japan (equivalent of Rawlings Gold Glove Award in MLB) during the 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003 seasons. He also won a Nippon Professional Baseball MVP award in Japan during the 1998 season. Matsui signed with the New York Mets on December 17, 2003, becoming the first ever Japanese infielder to sign with a MLB team.^[2] He played for the Colorado Rockies during the 2007 season.

1 Early life
2 Major League career
- 2.1 2004
- 2.2 2005
- 2.3 2006
- 2.4 2007
- 2.5 2008
3 References
4 External links

Early life

^{This short section requires expansion.}

Kazuo Matsui graduated from the PL Gakuen Senior High School in Osaka.^[3]

Major League career

2004

With the Mets, Matsui hit home runs in his first plate appearance in each of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 seasons. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the only Major League player to hit a home run in his first plate appearance of his first three seasons. The only other player to hit a home run in even his first at bat of three consecutive seasons was Ken Griffey Jr. In 2004, Matsui homered on the first pitch from Russ Ortiz of the Atlanta Braves leading off the first inning, in 2005, on the sixth pitch from Paul Wilson of the Cincinnati Reds with one out in the first inning, and in 2006, on the fourth pitch from Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres with no outs in the top of the third. The third home run is notable for being an inside-the-park home run. He slid into home as his former Met teammate Mike Piazza was blocking the plate. Matsui played 114 games in 2004 (the most games he has played so far in his MLB career). He hit .272 with 125 hits, 32 doubles, 2 triples, 7 home runs, 44 RBI, 65 runs, 14 stolen bases, 5 sacrifice hits, 40 walks and 182 total bases. His hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, walks, and total bases currently remain career highs.

2005

Based on his performance in Japan, Matsui was expected to excel defensively as a shortstop with the Mets. However, in 2004, Matsui committed many errors and misjudgments at the position, and was made the second baseman for 2005. He was also plagued by injuries, which were not a problem for him in Japan. His offensive production was also much lower than anticipated. By mid-2005, he was no longer an everyday player, sharing time at second base with Miguel Cairo and Marlon Anderson. Matsui finished the season batting .255 with three home runs and 24 RBI.

2006

Matsui began the 2006 season by hitting .200 (26-for-130) with 10 runs, six doubles, one home run and seven RBI. The one home run came on an inside-the-park home run against the San Diego Padres on April 20, 2006. Matsui became the first player since 1975 to hit an inside-the-park home run as his first home run of the season.^[2] On June 9, 2006, Matsui was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Eli Marrero. Colorado asked that Matsui waive certain clauses in his contract and he agreed. Once complete, Matsui was sent down to play with Rockies' Triple-A affiliate Colorado Springs Sky Sox for about two and a half months. Matsui made his Rockies debut against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 23, 2006, starting at shortstop in place of Clint Barmes. Matsui would soon shift to second base. Through 2006 he improved from .200/.235/.269 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in his 130 at bats as a Met, to hitting .345/.392/.504 in 113 at bats as a member of the Rockies. Matsui re-signed with the Colorado Rockies for a one-year, $1.5M contract and changed his number to 7, a number that he wore in Japan.

2007

Kazuo Matsui batting for the Colorado Rockies against the Cincinnati Reds in 2007

Matsui's performance improved during the 2007 season with the Colorado Rockies, as he hit .288, which was higher than his career average. He had career highs in runs (84), triples (6), stolen bases (32) and sacrifice hits (8) in 2007. Matsui was also first in the majors in scoring percentage (47%) when reaching base.^[4] He batted .330 with a .482 slugging percentage and 4 home runs at mile-high Coors Field, but hit only .249 with a .333 slugging percentage and 0 home runs in away games. However, it should been noted that one of the reasons for any substantial differences in home and road splits for Rockies batters is that they have to make adjustments in how they see pitches away from Coors Field - particularly breaking balls, such as sliders and curve balls - since those pitches act differently at Coors Field than on the road.^[5] Matsui and the Rockies clinched the 2007 National League wild card game by winning a one-game regular season playoff matchup against the San Diego Padres, propelling Colorado into their second playoff appearance in club history. Matsui hit his first career grand slam during the second game of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies. It came with the Rockies down 3-2 with two outs in the top of the 4th inning. The grand slam gave the Rockies a lead in which they would never relinquish. Colorado won the game, 10-5. Matsui became only the third player in MLB history to have his first career grand slam occur in the postseason rather than the regular season. He also became the first Japanese player to hit a grand slam in the postseason. Along with the grand slam, Matsui hit a triple and a double during game two of the NLDS, falling a single short of becoming the only player in history to hit a cycle during the postseason. However, Matsui did become only the second player ever (Lou Brock in game four of the 1968 World Series was the first) to hit a double, triple and home run in a postseason game. Matsui filed for free agency after the end of the season.