Pre-MLB Kazuo Matsui?

The silence is deafening.

It is hard to know why players have difficulties from one season to the next even staying on the same time or in the same league.

As a Seattle Mariners' fan I have seen many recent examples of Major Leaguers who couldn't make the adjustment from the National League to the American League. Al Martin, Jeff Cirrillo, Rich Aurelia, and Adrian Beltre have all had less than impressive Seattle seasons after having great years in the National League.

Yes, this is the quietest time of year for many boards (except for spammers who seem to have increased - not that you see any of it, though).

There are a number of things that I thought before Kazuo went over, but I'm trying to find where I posted them to give you an idea of what I felt at the time.

In October of 2001, Baseball America had an article discussing "Who's the next Ichiro?" (for subscriptions only). Someone had cut and pasted the article to this site, which isn't allowed, so I wrote a summary of the article. Here's what Baseball America thought of Kazuo at that time (in my words):

Next is the Lions' Matsui Kazuo, or "Little Matsui" as Baker-kantoku named him after the Nichi-Bei games in 1996 when the two Matsuis left a big impression of power (Hideki) and speed (Kazuo). Mention is made that the switch hitting lead off hitter is considered to be the best all around player in Japan since Ichiro left, and I would have to agree with that statement.

One scout would want to covert him to second, while another admires his "instincts to steal bases."

The article then mentions that Matsui has been saying that he has no interest in jumping the pond apparently because he'd like some say in what team he goes to, which he won't have with the posting system. It will be interesting to see if Tsutsumi-owner goes ahead and posts him anyway this off season.

To follow up, Tsutsumi did propose the idea of posting Matsui at the end the 2002 season, but Matsui turned him down, mainly for the reasons stated above, although publicly it was because he didn't perform well enough. This statement stuck with me, as you'll see below.

The next post on this topic I found (November 22, 2002) is in regards to Matsui's speed, one thing that many were relying on:

He's slowed down in recent years, but he did win the Stolen Base Title three years in a row, from 1997-99, stealing 62, 43, and 32 bags respectively. His lifetime totals (including 2002) are listed on his player page. (I don't have caught stealing numbers for 2002 as of this writing.)"

As you can see, his speed was steadilly decreasing before the 2002 season. After that, his stolen base count went all the way down to 13 in 2003, a far cry from 62 in 1997.

Then, regarding the possibility of a bad knee I wrote on June 22, 2003:

Matsui did spend some time earlier this season as DH to keep his consecutive game streak alive as he was too hurt to play in the field. I think it was his shoulder that was the problem then, but I recall something about knee problems at the end of last season and the beginning of this one. Let me see, ...

I see that he played DH earlier this month [Lions' Official site - in Japanese] after fouling a ball off his ankle. Going back a little farther I find that it was his knees bothering him last September (2002).

So the knee problem is something that was known well before moving to the Mets. The lower back problems, though, were not.

On July 1, 2003, Nikkan Sports published a headline declaring that Matsui would be going to the Yomiuri Giants the next year. I gave a summary of the article and declared it fiction for a slow news day. While I did refer to Matsui as "the best shortstop in Japan" to show my indignation of converting him to center, I ended the post with this:

What I'm wondering is if, as was pointed out by an observant fans on another thread, anyone on either side of the Pacific has noticed how much Matsui is down from normal this year. Is this sign of things to come? Or is it an off year?

This was the kind of quote I was looking for. Because when Matsui did declare free agency and was looking to move to the Majors, it really bothered me that he said his 2002 performance wasn't good enough to warrant being posted by Seibu (who wanted to post him), but his 2003 performance was, despite being worse.

Kazuo played very well against the MLB all stars in 1996, and was very high on several MLB clubs' lists of players they wanted. In fact, playing against the Major Leaguers in 1996 seemed to be a big turning point in Matsui's career, as it seemed to spark his rise to greatness between 1997 and 1999, playing excellent short with power at the plate and speed around the bases. Matsui kept a consecutive game playing streak alive through a leg injury in 2002. His batting and fielding both seriously declined in 2003, just before going to the Majors. His speed was pretty well spent by then.

That was the pre-MLB Kazuo Matsui. He peaked at the endof the 1990s. The slope has continued down from there, both in Japan and then in the Majors. I hope this doesn't give you too negative a view of Kazuo, because it doesn't emphisize enough what he did accomplish while at the top of his game, like reaching the Triple-3 (.300, 30 HR, 30 SB) in 2002, the 8th player in NPB history to do so.

Too bad he already wrote the article, though a good one it is: Link [MetsGeek].

It's tough to say what caused the struggles for Kazuo Matsui. Kaz has been injured his entire MLB career, he started having injuries in his late NPB career, which some were worried about. Maybe, the transistion freaked him out. His stolen base number went down after the injuries he had. It's tough to say for sure what it is.

Robert Whiting, who wrote "You Gotta Have Wa" and "The Meaning of Ichiro" along with many other books on Japanese baseball gave a interesting tidbit about Kaz Matsui's struggles in a e-mail I recieved, who I like to thank for allowing me to use this e-mail. You can read it as part of this post.

That was a really fine article. It echoed some thoughts that have been posted here before and some new ones. The "support system" comment is noteworthy. Who does Kaz turn to for support? Maybe a wife, but often things get worked out in the clubhouse with your mates. Kaz doesn't have that outlet due to language. Then he is hurt and spends time away from the team. He has no senior, no mentor. The fans ride him. The dude is isolated.

Yogi Berra once said, "Baseball is 80% mental. The other half is physical." All that stuff about clearing his mind is going to be key. He's lugging around a lot of baggage. He has to let it go.

I also was pleasantly surprised to see the comments to the article on the blog. Very thoughtful, honest for the most part, and positive toward Kaz.

I think Kaz is going to pull a rebound off. As the article says, the heat is off him. Expectations are low. His team mates must embrace him and the fans have to back off and give him some space. Willie needs to be his senior, but he has to openly communicate with him. If this happens, Kaz will respond positively and will rise to the occasion, IMHO.