Kaz Matsui (Seibu Lions) to the New York Mets

Kaz Matsui is pretty small. I can't see a guy that size hitting with as much power over here.

Matsui played pretty well for the Yankees, especially if you take out his April. He didn't hit for as much power as in Japan, that is for certain. It will be interesting to see what he does this next season.

Hideo Nomo hasn't been overwhelming, but he has had a few good years.

I wonder how long until they stage an end of the year playoff between the American and Japanese champion. It could be a big deal, even if not a fair matchup, people would check it out.

well he was less meddling than being on the wrong end of the mendoza line, Leee.

i can still hear it clear as day:

vin scully- "and Nomo with the sexy wind-up..."

taken from aaron gleeman's blog... (scroll down to the 12/2/03 article):

[begin quote]
"To try to get a feel for what we might be able to expect from Kaz Matsui's rookie season in America, let's first take a look at how other Japanese hitters have faired in their first seasons here, compared to their final seasons in Japan.

ICHIRO!                        AVG      OBP      SLG
Last season in Japan          .387     .460     .539
First season in U.S.          .350     .381     .457

HIDEKI MATSUI                  AVG      OBP      SLG
Last season in Japan          .334     .461     .692
First season in U.S.          .287     .353     .435

TSUYOSHI SHINJO                AVG      OBP      SLG
Last season in Japan          .278     .320     .491
First season in U.S.          .268     .320     .405

There are all kinds of sample-size problems with using just three players and a total of six seasons, but there are still some interesting things to be taken from this stuff.

Just to make things a little easier, let's put all the numbers into one table and show the changes each player experienced in his first season in America (shown as +/- percentages)...

               AVG        OBP        SLG       ISOP       ISOD        GPA
Ichiro!      - 9.6      -17.2      -15.2      -29.6      -57.5      -16.4
Matsui       -14.1      -23.4      -37.1      -58.6      -48.0      -29.4
Shinjo       - 3.6        0.0      -17.5      -35.7      + 2.4      - 8.2

The six stats shown above are:

- Batting average (AVG)
- On-base percentage (OBP)
- Slugging percentage (SLG)
- Isolated Power (ISOP)
- Isolated Discipline (ISOD)
- Gleeman Production Average (GPA)

You almost certainly know all about the first three stats (AVG, OBP, SLG). "Isolated Power" is slugging percentage minus batting average. In other words, how much "raw" power does someone have. "Isolated Discipline" is a name I made up, but the stat is the same as Isolated Power, except it measures someone's "raw" plate discipline, by taking their on-base percentage and subtracting batting average. Finally, "Gleeman Production Average" is a stat I introduced here last week. The formula is [(OBP*1.8) + SLG] / 4 and I think it is a good measure of someone's overall offensive effectiveness."
[end quote]

Based on the global avergage of those 3 players GPA, what kind of stats do you expect from Kaz? I'm particularly interested in HR, AVG, and SB.

Thanks.

has anyone seen the guy in spring training yet?

FIRST PITCH OF MAJOR LEAGUE CAREER = GONE

His range is superhuman. I love KAZ!

Mets sent me an email to get in the Pepsi bleachers free tonight, but hell, even I wanna watch the Bos-NYY game...

go bosox.

what's the weather in boston tonight? three days of rain have passed, no?

K. Matsui 2B Mar 21, 2008 15-day Surgery, anal fissure - out 2-3 weeks

yow

butthurtedness