Kazuo Matsui: Former Japanese Born Mets Infielder (2004 - 2006)

Kazuo Matsui was born on October 23, 1975, in Osaka Japan. 

In Osaka He attended the PL Academy known for its baseball program. Before injury he was considered the schools best pitcher as the school competed in championship tournaments.

Nippon Professional League: In 1994 he began his pro career with the Seibu Lions wearing #32. Matsui was an All-star shortstop in Japan, winning seven Best Nine awards, four gold gloves and two stolen base titles. Matsui's teams won four titles but never the final championship series.

In 2004 he became the first Japanese infielder to sign with a major league team when he became a New York Met.

Mets MLB Career: Matsui debuted on Opening Day 2004 batting leadoff & playing short stop. Jose Reyes was just in his second year & was moved over to play second base due to the expectations of Matsui & his play in Japan.

Big Debut: In a triumphant debut he hit a HR in his first MLB at bat, coming off the Braves Russ Ortiz, in a 7-1 Mets win at Turner Field. Matsui became the second player in MLB history to hit his first career HR in his first career at bat leading off a season. The Phillies Emmet Mueller did it in 1938.

Matsui collected three hits that day, becoming the first Met since Preston Wilson in 1998 to have three hits in his debut. Matsui also hit an RBI double & drew a bases loaded walk bringing in his third RBI.

He started out hot hitting safely in eight of his first ten games. In the Mets home opener, he hit a two run double off Mike Hampton giving the Mets a 7-0 lead in the victory. 

Walf Off Hit: On May 9th in a game against the Brewers, he was brought in as a pinch runner in the bottom of the 8th inning. With two men on in the bottom of the 11th & the score tied at five, Kaz hit a ground rule double off Ben Ford scoring Todd Zeile with the games winning walk off run.

On May 12th, Kaz hit his third lead off HR of the season. It came off the Diamondbacks Randy Johnson & was the only run of the game in Tom Glavine/ Braden Loopers combined three hit- shutout. 

Mets Trivia: The only other time the Mets won a 1-0 game on a lead off HR was in 1973 when Wayne Garrett hit a leadoff HR off Montreal's Steve Renko in a Jon Matlack / Tug McGraw combined shut out.

On May 18th, 2004, he singled off the Cardinals Jason Isringhausen in the bottom of the 9th inning tying up the game, then Cliff Floyd drove in the winning walk off run. 

Mets Record for Lead Off HRs: On May 22nd at Shea Stadium, Matusi led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a HR off the Rockies Aaron Cook. It was his fourth lead off HR of the season, tying Tommie Agee's franchise record set in 1969. The Mets won the game 5-4.

On May 23rd, the next night at Shea, he hit HRs in back-to-back game. Kaz led off with a HR off the Rockies Sean Estes, setting a team record with his fifth lead off HR passing Tommie Agee's record of four in 1969. He also tied Chili Davis MLB rookie record of five lead off HRs (1982).

Mets Trivia: Matsui also became the first Mets player in franchise history to hit lead off HRs in back-to-back games.

In the month he scored 21 runs, drove in eleven stole five bases & had nine multi-hit games.

After playing in the first 70 Mets games of the season, he was out of the line up on June 24th. Going back to his days in Japan, it snapped a streak of 1213 straight games played.

Subway Series: On June 26th, he added to the Mets big, six run 4th inning with a two-run single off Brad Halsey, while collecting two hits in the 9-3 Mets win. He would drive in another run in the loss two days later.

From June 29th to July 20th, Kaz hit .394 raising his average from .251 to .276, scoring 13 runs in a 15-game span. From July 1st to July 9th, he hit safely in nine straight games hitting two HRs six, doubles with five RBIs & 13 runs scored.

Multi- HR Five RBI Subway Series Game: On July 2nd he had his biggest day of the season,
coming at Shea Stadium in an 11-2 win in the Mets subway series sweep. Matsui hit two HRs off Mike Mussina & drove in a season high five runs. In the three-game series, Kaz collected six hits & scored seven runs. On July 3rd, he set a career high with four runs scored in the 10-9 Mets win.

At the All Star break he set a Mets record with 27 first half doubles passing Todd Zeile's old mark of 26. He was hitting .269 with 94 hits 56 runs scored & a .332 on base %. But defensively at short stop he was struggling, making 19 errors something that didn't happen to him in Japan. 

Back Injury: On August 9th he went on the DL with a back strain returning on September 24th missing six weeks of action. Matsui was never on the DL while playing in Japan. 

By the time he returned the Mets team was about to finish 71-91 in fourth place under Art Howe.

Overall, in his rookie season he came in sixth in the Rookie of the Year voting. Kaz led all rookie in doubles (32) & stolen bases (14). He had 125 hits with .272 with two triples 7 HRs 65 runs scored & 44 RBIs. He struck out 97 times with 40 walks posting a .331 on base % & .727 OPS.  

Kaz only hit into three double plays all season, the third best ratio in the, one every 153.3 at bats. Kaz also led the team with 40 multi-hit games, collecting two hits 34 times & three hits in six other games.

Looking back, he put in a decent season, but unfortunately more was expected of him after the club had promoted him so highly on team that lacked hitting. 

At short stop he was disappointing, as his 23 errors were second most in the league as he posted a .956 fielding %.

2005: The next season there was more promise at Shea Stadium, as the Mets added Pedro Martinez & Carlos Beltran to the roster along with new manager Willie Randolph. The Mets also moved Jose Reyes back to his short stop position with Matsui moving over the second base.

Matsui began the year with a bang once again, as he hit his second straight Opening Day HR. It came off the Reds (former Met) Paul Wilson in Cincinnati in the Mets 7-6 loss. 

He wouldn't hit another HR until May 9th, thirty games later. He would hit just three on the season.

On April 6th, in a loss to the Reds in the second game of the season, Kaz hit a two run double for one of his six multi- RBI games on the season. 

Three Run Triple: On May 14th, in the 6th inning at Shea Stadium, he came to bat with the bases loaded & cleared the bases with a three-run triple liner in the gap off Mark Mulder. But the Mets lost the game 7-6. 

At the end of April, he was batting .280 but over the next six weeks he hit just .210 & was batting .234 by June 17th. 

From May 14th to May 20th in a six-game span, Matsui drove in nine runs going 7-21. On May 14thm he had a season high three RBI game in a 7-6 loss to the Cardinals at Shea Stadium.

On May 17th, he hit a two run HR off the Red Ramon Ortiz, driving in both runs of a Mets 2-1 win at Shea. It was his third & last HR of the season.

Kaz had a big series against the Reds driving in runs in all three games, totaling five while collecting five hits as well.

DL For Two Months: Matsui went on the disabled list once again missing almost two months of action, returning in early August. 

From September 2nd to September 16th, he had a season best 12 game hit streak, batting .391 with three doubles, three triples & five multi-hit games.

That season he played in just 87 games batting .255 with 9 doubles 4 triples 3 HRs 31 runs scored & 24 RBIs. He stole six stolen bases in seven attempts, posted a .300 on base % & .652 OPS. At second base, he posted a .970 fielding % making nine errors in 303 chances.

2006 Mets NL Eastern Champion Season: This season the Mets were a totally different team than when Matsui first joined the club. In the off season the Mets added Carlos Delgado, Paul Loduca & closer Billy Wagner. They also added Veteran second baseman Jose Valentin, who surprised everyone in Spring Training making the roster. He eventually took over the second base spot from Matsui.

First Player to HR In His First at Bat in His First Three Seasons: Kaz began 2006 making the record books, as he became the first player in MLB history to HR in his first at bat in his first three MLB seasons. On April 20th, at Petco Park in San Diego Matsui came to bat for the first time in the 3rd inning, while batting in the 8th position. He hit an inside the park HR off Jake Peavy, sliding home safely past his former teammate Mike Piazza, who was now catching with the Padres. 

His inside the park HR was his first HR of the season. The last player to hit his first HR of the
season with an inside the parker, was the Giants Johnny LeMaster in 1975.

Matsui started the year with eight straight games, batting .344 with three multi-hit games. From May 3rd to May 14th, he had a nine-game hit streak but as his hitting started to slow down, he saw less playing time. 

On June 8th, after 38 games Matsui was hitting only .211 & was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Eli Marero. 

Post Mets Career: With the Rockies, he was sent to AAA Colorado Springs then had another back injury, missing over two months of action. He returned in late August & hit .345 for the remainder of the season. 

 When the 2006 Mets finished first it seemed Kaz missed out being sent to Colorado as the Rockies finished fourth. But the very next season, the Rockies won almost every game in the month of September making the post season, beating out the Mets for the wild card spot on the final day of the regular season.

During the regular season, Kazuo hit .288 with 24 doubles six triples a .342 on base % & .746 OPS. He also stole 32 bases (9th in the NL). He posted a .992 fielding % (best among all second baseman) & turned 26 double plays with help from short stop Troy Tulowitzki up the middle infield.

2007 Post Season: The Rockies swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS & the Arizona
Diamondbacks in the NLCS getting all the way to the World Series, before losing to the Boston Red Sox.

2007 NLDS- Grand Slam HR: In Game #2 of the NLDS in a 10-5 win over Phillies, Matsui hit his first career grand slam a 4th inning blast off Kyle Lohse. In that game he also tripled in the 6th inning bringing in Yorvit Torrealba & doubled just missing hitting for the cycle not collecting a single. 

Seven Game Hit Streak: From October 3rd to October 24th, Kaz hit safely in seven straight post season games. Starting from the NLDS Game #2 thru World Series Game #1.

2007 NLCS: In the final Game #4 he singled off Arizona's Micah Owings putting the Rockies ahead, then scored on Matt Holiday's three run HR.

2007 World Series: In the World Series, he batted .294 tied with Matt Holiday for the second-best average behind Todd Helton among the Rockies starters. 

In Game #3 he collected three hits in the 10-5 loss at Coors Field. 

Overall, in the post season he hit .304 with a HR & 8 RBIs.

In 2008 he signed as a free agent with the Houston Astros, batting a career best .293 stealing 20 bases & hitting 26 doubles. 

In 2009 he was still Houston’s main second baseman & batted .250 in his last full season of MLB play. 

1000th Career Hit: On August 15th, in Milwaukee he beat out a 3rd inning infield hit to collect the 2000th hit of his career combined in both MLB & Japan.

In 2010 he saw action in just 27 games batting a low .147 getting released that May. 

Career Stats: In his seven-year MLB career Matsui hit .267 with 615 hits 32 HRs 120 doubles 20 triples 102 stolen bases 330 runs scored & 211 RBIs. He struck out 403 times walked 179 times, posted a .321 on base % & .701 OPS.

Return to Japan: In 2011 Matsui signed to play back in his native Japan for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. He played there from 2011 - 2017. In 2013 he won the Japan Series with the Eagles. 

That year he also played for Japan in the WBC. 

In November 2017 he signed on with the Saitama Seibu Lions playing there for one season, then retired & became the team's coach. In 2023 he became the Lion's manager.

Family: In 2000 Kazuo married his wife, Mi. Together they have two children. His daughter Haruna is Japanese model. In 2023 she was chosen as the 65th Saiodai heroine of Aoi-matsuri Festiva.