Kazuo Matsui | Major Leaguer 2004-2008

Full Name: Kazuo Matsui
Born: October 23,1975 in Osaka, Japan
Height: 5-10 Weight: 185 Bats: Both Throws: Right
High School: PL Gakuen (Osaka,Japan)
College:

Baseball Lists: Home Run in 1st Major League At Bat

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Prospect Rankings*
2004 - 7th ranked Major League prospect

*According to Baseball America

Drafted: Signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Mets in 2003

Transactions: [Jun 1,1994] - Drafted by Seibu (Japan) in third round of 1994 Japanese draft [Dec 10,2003] - Signed as undrafted Free Agent by Mets. [Jun 9,2006] - Traded by Mets with cash considerations to Rockies for Eli Marrero [Nov 14,2006] - Signed by Rockies [Dec 2,2007] - Signed by Astros (3-years)

Disabled List: [Aug 15,2004] - 15 Day Disabled list - (back spasms) [Sep 24,2004] - Activated [Jun 21,2005] - 15 Day Disabled list - (left knee bruise) [Aug 10,2005] - Activated [Apr 19,2006] - Activated [Apr 15,2007] - 15 Day Disabled list - (Back spasms) [May 21,2007] -

Batting Statistics

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org.	Level	Pos	Ln	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	HBP	IBB	SH	SF	DP	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	GB%
1995	Seibu	Jap Pac	19		Intl	ss		69	204	25	45	9	1	2	62	21	1	7	26	0	0	7	1	4	.221	.245	.304	549	--
1996	Seibu	Jap Pac	20		Intl	ss		130	473	51	134	22	5	1	29	50	9	14	93	3	0	26	2	2	.283	.307	.357	664	--
1997	Seibu	Jap Pac	21		Intl	ss		135	576	91	178	23	13	7	63	62	15	44	89	5	0	18	2	4	.309	.362	.431	793	--
1998	Seibu	Jap Pac	22		Intl	ss		135	575	92	179	38	5	9	58	43	14	55	89	1	0	6	4	10	.311	.370	.442	812	--
1999	Seibu	Jap Pac	23		Intl	ss		135	539	87	178	29	4	15	67	32	7	56	75	0	0	8	6	7	.330	.389	.482	871	--
2000	Seibu	Jap Pac	24		Intl	ss		135	550	99	177	40	11	23	90	26	3	46	60	2	0	6	7	8	.322	.372	.560	932	--
2001	Seibu	Jap Pac	25		Intl	ss		140	552	94	170	28	2	24	76	26	0	46	83	6	0	4	5	13	.308	.365	.496	861	--
2002	Seibu	Jap Pac	26		Intl	ss		140	582	119	193	46	6	36	87	33	11	53	112	4	6	9	3	4	.332	.389	.617	1006	--
2003	Seibu	Jap Pac	27		Intl	3b		140	587	104	179	36	4	33	84	13	0	55	124	4	0	3	6	4	.305	.365	.549	914	--
2004	NY Mets	NL	28	Nym	MLB	ss	1,2	114	460	65	125	32	2	7	44	14	3	40	97	2	4	5	2	3	.272	.331	.396	727	49%
2005	GC Mets	GCL	29	Nym	Rk	2b		3	9	3	4	0	0	1	3	0	0	1	3	1	0	0	0	0	.444	.545	.778	1323	--
	Brooklyn	NYPL	29	Nym	A-	2b		1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.400	.000	400	--
	Binghamton	East	29	Nym	AA	2b		3	9	4	4	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.444	.500	.556	1056	--
	NY Mets	NL	29	Nym	MLB	2b	2	87	267	31	68	9	4	3	24	6	1	14	43	5	1	5	4	2	.255	.300	.352	652	61%
2006	St. Lucie	FSL	30	Nym	A+	2b		2	7	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.286	.375	.286	661	--
	Colo Spr	PCL	30	Col	AAA	ss		31	115	26	32	4	0	3	16	3	1	9	20	1	0	1	3	0	.278	.328	.391	719	--
	Norfolk	IL	30	Nym	AAA	2b		4	12	2	4	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	.333	.333	.500	833	--
	Colorado	NL	30	Col	MLB	2b	1	32	113	22	39	6	3	2	19	8	1	10	27	0	0	4	2	0	.345	.392	.504	896	41%
	NY Mets	NL	30	Nym	MLB	2b	8,7,9	38	130	10	26	6	0	1	7	2	0	6	19	0	1	0	0	1	.200	.235	.269	504	51%
2007	Colo Spr	PCL	31	Col	AAA	2b		2	6	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.625	.500	1125	--
	Colorado	NL	31	Col	MLB	2b	2	104	410	84	118	24	6	4	37	32	4	34	69	0	1	8	1	1	.288	.342	.405	747	51%
2008	Corpus Chr	Tex	32	Hou	AA			2	7	1	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	.429	.429	.857	1286	--
	Round Rock	PCL	32	Hou	AAA			3	11	1	2	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	.182	.250	.545	795	--
	Houston	NL	32	Hou	MLB	2b		96	375	58	110	26	3	6	33	20	5	37	53	0	0	7	3	3	.293	.354	.427	781	--

Major League Totals - 5 Season(s)								471	1755	270	486	103	18	23	164	82	14	141	308	7	7	29	12	10	.277	.331	.395	726	--
Minor League Totals - 13 Season(s)								1210	4817	801	1487	282	51	155	638	312	62	393	780	27	6	90	39	57	.309	.361	.485	846	--

Fielding Statistics

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Org	Level	Pos	G	GS	Inn	PO	A	E	TC	DP	PB	SB	CS	FPCT	RF
1995	Jap Pac	19		Intl	SS	68	-	-	70	166	8	244	22	-	-	-	.967	--

1996	Jap Pac	20		Intl	SS	130	-	-	194	379	10	583	90	-	-	-	.983	--

1997	Jap Pac	21		Intl	SS	135	-	-	236	417	12	665	87	-	-	-	.982	--

1998	Jap Pac	22		Intl	SS	135	-	-	226	400	14	640	86	-	-	-	.978	--

1999	Jap Pac	23		Intl	SS	135	-	-	222	401	16	639	91	-	-	-	.975	--

2000	Jap Pac	24		Intl	SS	134	-	-	243	413	21	677	75	-	-	-	.969	--

2001	Jap Pac	25		Intl	SS	117	-	-	208	328	9	545	76	-	-	-	.983	--

2002	Jap Pac	26		Intl	SS	139	-	-	218	356	9	583	68	-	-	-	.985	--

2004	NY Mets	NL	28	Nym	MLB	2B	3	3	24	4	8	1	13	3	-	-	-	.923	4.50
2004	NY Mets	NL	28	Nym	MLB	SS	110	108	941.2	174	323	23	520	65	-	-	-	.956	4.75

2005	GC Mets	GCL	29	Nym	Rk	2B	2			2	7	0	9	2	-	-	-	1.000	--
2005	Brooklyn	NYPL	29	Nym	A-	2B	1			2	3	0	5	1	-	-	-	1.000	--
2005	Binghamton	East	29	Nym	AA	2B	3			2	12	0	14	2	-	-	-	1.000	--
2005	NY Mets	NL	29	Nym	MLB	2B	71	64	560	107	187	9	303	32	-	-	-	.970	4.73

2006	St. Lucie	FSL	30	Nym	A+	2B	2			3	7	1	11	2	-	-	-	.909	--
2006	Colo Spr	PCL	30	Col	AAA	2B	3			4	13	0	17	4	-	-	-	1.000	--
2006	Colo Spr	PCL	30	Col	AAA	SS	28			40	91	6	137	20	-	-	-	.956	--
2006	Norfolk	IL	30	Nym	AAA	2B	4			3	11	0	14	2	-	-	-	1.000	--
2006	Colorado	NL	30	Col	MLB	2B	21	21	187	48	73	2	123	26	-	-	-	.984	5.82
2006	Colorado	NL	30	Col	MLB	SS	3	3	26	4	1	0	5	1	-	-	-	1.000	1.73
2006	NY Mets	NL	30	Nym	MLB	2B	31	30	276	72	85	1	158	23	-	-	-	.994	5.12

2007	Colo Spr	PCL	31	Col	AAA	2B	2			3	3	0	6	1	-	-	-	1.000	--
2007	Colorado	NL	31	Col	MLB	2B	102	96	863.1	200	311	4	515	84	-	-	-	.992	5.33

2008	Corpus Chr	Tex	32	Hou	AA	2B	2			3	6	0	9	1	-	-	-	1.000	--
2008	Round Rock	PCL	32	Hou	AAA	2B	3			5	10	0	15	5	-	-	-	1.000	--
2008	Houston	NL	32	Hou	MLB	2B	94	94	806	190	219	12	421	56	-	-	-	.971	4.57

Awards

[2004] - NL Rookie of the Year (Voting Rank: #6)

Salaries

Year	Salary	Rank	Lg Avg	Centile
2004	*300,000		1,716,303	80
2005	7,033,333		1,825,756	9
2006	8,033,333	87	1,937,004	8
2007	*1,500,000		2,923,340	47
2008	*5,500,000

Career:	$22,366,666	estimate

Trivia and Player Notes

Kaz Matsui signed out of Japan after playing with the Seibu Lions from 1995-2003. During that time, he had a game-playing streak of 1143 consecutive games. The New York Mets signed Matsui to a 3-year, $20.1 million contract and made him their starting shortstop and ironically, despite his ironman reputation, could not stay healthy. After a disappointing start to the 2006 season, the Mets traded Matsui to the Rockies, paying off his salary for Colorado. Matsui was immediately assigned to Colorado Springs, the Rockies AAA affiliate.

Matsui became the first major leaguer in history to hit home runs on opening day in his first three seasons.