I've watched him a few times in spring training now. Caveat, he's battling a sore middle finger, maybe his hitting isn't EXACTLY what I'm seeing, but from what I'm seeing I'm not terribly impressed. He has great speed, slaps at the ball a la Ichiro, but also swings and misses a lot- not fooled by a pitch- just swings and misses. Will gets lots of ks.
Will be lethal when he gets on, but my guess is he'll only hit for .260/.270. I would not be surprised to see Reyes lead off and Matsui bat second.
I could be wrong-- I've been wrong before-- but I think he will not adjust to major league pitching as well as Ichiro did. He does not seem as complete a player.
Off the top of my head: .270/ 15HR/65RBI/100R
I pretty much agree with the above numbers, plus maybe 20 SBs. Is running ability appears exaggerated, as his SBs in Japan have been trending straight down. In a 12 team league, he is a below average SS.
stumpak wrote:I pretty much agree with the above numbers, plus maybe 20 SBs. Is running ability appears exaggerated, as his SBs in Japan have been trending straight down. In a 12 team league, he is a below average SS.
i believe his sb numbers in japan decreased because he was moved from lead off to the #3 spot. if he is back to leading off i would expect similar stolen base numbers to his early days in japan. i think he will end up with 30+. i also think he will bat better than .270.
stumpak wrote:I pretty much agree with the above numbers, plus maybe 20 SBs. Is running ability appears exaggerated, as his SBs in Japan have been trending straight down. In a 12 team league, he is a below average SS.
Afterthe game where he stole a base this spring, Howe said it was absolutely scary how fast he is. He has said that he plans to fully utilize his speed. If you watch any spring games, he takes monster lead and seems very aggressive. He'll steal at least 30 this year.
I am Japanese. I know Japanese baseball. And I am nothing to do today. So I am going to show you their stats in Japan. But I have problem. My English is not perfect. So I hope you to understand my English. Thank you.
Leon Lee/Maybe 3A/1B,3B/Born ? (I can not find out) L.Lee was playing in Japan for 10 years (from 1978 to 1987). He was good player. His best season at Japan was in 1980. But meybe you do not know about him. But you know his son. His son is Derrek Lee.
Year/AB/HR/RBI/SB/BB/k/AVG/Where 1980 486 41 116 02 53 48 .340 Japan
*01=1, 02=2.........................081=81
Cecil Fielder/TOR DET.../1B/Born 1963 Long time ago, he came to the Japan. And maybe he ate a lot of Sushi. Then he came back to the USA. Then he got HR king at AL MLB, Wow. Maybe I think he got Sushi power at Japan.
Last year, Kevin Millar did not want to come to the Japan. Why? If he came to the Japan. I think, Kevin "Rally Karaoke Guy" Millar could get a huge Karaoke power. There are so many Karaoke bars in Japan.
T.Shinjo/NYM,SFG/OF/Born 1972 Do you remember about him? He is he is.............Well,well. His web site is very nice. Now he is playing for Japanese baseball team again.
H.Matsui/NYY/OF/Born 1974 In 2002, he got HR king award at Japan. Then in 2003, he went to the USA and he got good guy award at there. So now I understand, Godzilla is not dangerous. Godzilla is very kind.
*DNP=did not play
*Kazuo Matsui and Ichiro were playing same league in Japan.
*2001, Ichiro went to the MLB. *Ichiro got SB king in Japan (1995). Ichiro got SB King in AL MLB (2001). *K.Matsui got SB King in Japan (1997,1998,1999).
*DNP=did not play
*Hideki Matsui was different league from them.
*Ichiro went to MLB 2001. *Hideki Matsui went to MLB 2003. *Ichiro got AVG king seven times in Japan (from 1994 to 2000). Ichiro got AVG king in AL MLB (2001). *Hideki Matsui got AVG king in Japan (2001).
*Kazuo Matsui could not get AVG king in Japan.
With those stats it is easy to see that Kaz could put up 40-50SB this year considering Ichiro had his SB numbers drop before coming over the MLB and then returned to form over here......
I hope a lot of people have no faith in Kaz because I would love to get him around the tenth or eleventh rounds......
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by BigMusky » Wed Mar 17, 2004 3:38 pm 
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