Daisuke Matsuzaka

From SoSH

Daisuke Matsuzaka (born September 13, 1980 in Tokyo, Japan), pronounced "DICE-kay Mat-su-ZA-ka". Daisuke is married to Tomoyo Matsuzaka. He has been nicknamed "Dice-K" by the US media.

Contents 1 Scouting Report 2 Overall Career 3 2006 4 2007 5 Awards 6 Moments in the Sun 7 Dice-K on SoSH 8 Trivia 9 Red Sox Firsts 10 External Links 10.1 Videos

Scouting Report

• Matsuzaka features a barage of pitches that he can throw for strikes at any time. His 4-seam fastball sits in the low to mid-90's touching 94, 95. He also throws a 2-seam fastball, curveball, changeup, slider and a cut fastball. Also supposedly throws a gyroball. This quote from Baseball America pretty much sums up Dice-K:

• "Who needs a gyroball? He has six pitches that grade out as plus or plus-plus at their best, and he'll be the best Japanese import ever. And no, we're not forgetting about Ichiro."

Overall Career

• Was posted by Seibu on Noverber 2, 2006. On November 14th, Seibu notified MLB that they had accepted the Sox high posting fee of $51,111,111.11. On December 14th, 2006, Matsuzaka signed a 6 year $52 million contract.
• In 8 seasons in the NPB, went 108-60, 2.95 ERA, 1402 IP, 1,355 K.

2006

• 2nd in Pacific League in ERA and 4th in the NPB. 1st in NPB with 13 CG. Defeated Fukuoka 1-0 in the PL playoffs in his final start as a Lion.
  • 25 G 186 IP 138 H 13 HR 200 K 34 BB

• Splits from 2006 (estimated based on information from Yahoo! Japan's web site, explained in this blog entry):

BAA OBP H/9 BB/9 K/9 HR/9 K BB HR PA IP

RHB 0.208 0.232 6.7 1 9.7 0.6 94 10 6 323 87

LHB 0.205 0.255 6.6 2.2 9.6 0.6 106 24 7 380 99

Total 0.206 0.245 6.7 1.6 9.7 0.6 200 34 13 703 186

• 2007 Projections:

BoSoxBob's forecast, described in this post from the Matsuzaka scouting thread:

2007

• Matsuzaka made his first major league regular season start for the Red Sox on April 5, 2007 in an afternoon game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. He walked one, recorded 10 strikeouts, and at one point retired 10 straight batters. He allowed 6 hits while throwing 108 pitches (74 for strikes) over 7 innings and recorded the win as the Red Sox triumphed by a score of 4-1. The one run was a solo HR by David DeJesus.

Year	Team	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	Hits	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	W	L	SV	HLD	BLSV	ERA
2007	Bos	29	29	1	0	184.1	175	91	91	23	70	179	14	12	0	0	--	4.44

Stats updated through September 14, 2007

Awards

• 1999 Pacific League Rookie of the Year
• 2001 Sawamura Award (top pitcher in Japan)
• 2006 World Baseball Classic Tournament MVP

Moments in the Sun

• In the quarterfinals of the Koshien Tournament in 1998, he pitched, and won, a complete game 250 pitch, 17-inning game. One day later he saved a game after starting in the outfield. Two days later he threw a no-hitter to clinch the series. He was 17 years old at the time.
• In his first appearance vs. the Orix Blue Wave, he fanned Ichiro Suzuki 3 straight times, before Ichiro drew a walk in his 4th appearance.
• Led the Pacific League in Strikeouts 4 times, 1st in Wins 3 times, and 1st in ERA twice.
• Recorded at least 14 Wins in 6 of his 8 seasons in the NPB, and struck out 200 or more 4 times.
• Became the first Japanese pitcher to start in and win a World Series game, in game 3 2007.
• Also in game 3 of the 2007 world Series, he became the third pitcher in Red Sox history to have a multiple RBI WS game with his first MLB hit, joining Babe Ruth and Cy Young on that short list.

Dice-K on SoSH

• On August 24th, 2006, the first of many Matsuzaka threads popped up on SoSH, with this line from eddiew112: "Looks like this kid has some amazing stuff. I wonder what the bidding process would be if he is posted on the market by his team. The Red Sox should look at him as an off season target." After tons of buildup thorugh the end of the season, on November 2nd, the Lions posted Matsuzaka, and after rumors swirling that either the Rangers, Yankees, Sox or Mets had submitted the highest bid, on the evening of November 14th it was announced that the Sox were indeed the highest bidder for his negotiating rights, with an unprecedented and astronomical bid of $51.1 million. Now the Sox had only 30 days to negotiate a contract with Dice-K and his agent, Scott Boras. As time ticked off the clock, debate and bickering broke out on the main board over kickbacks, leverage, and why Boras wears a white turtleneck. Should he be called D-Mat, Matsu, Dice-K? Mods worked overtime as threads were opened and closed with impunity. With only days left to negotiate, the media reported that the two sides were both miles and millions apart, as Dice-K remained in either Japan or LA throughout the process. On December 11th, Theo and Larry jumped on John Henry's jet, originally headed to Houston, but wound up on "Scott Boras' doorstep", after dueling press conferences aimed at influencing the Japanese media. After negotiating for 2 days, on December 14th (only one day left!) the Sox front office team warmed up Henry's jet once again, this time with Matsuzaka and Boras on board. The internet reached a fever pitch as someone unearthed a way to track jets across the country, and the jet was greeted by a throng of international media and Sox fanboys, later chronicled by Fratboy in another quickly closed thread. NESN cameras followed the Sox Escalade to MGH, where a physical meant that Dice-K had indeed agreed to a contract with the Sox.

Trivia

• Played for the Japanese National teams in the 2000 & 2004 Olympics.
• Represented Japan during the 2004 MLB All-Star Tour.
• Led the Japanese team victory in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, compliing a 3-0 record, a win in the championship game and was named tournament MVP.
• Requested to be posted after the 2005 season. The Seibu Lions refused his request.
• Matsuzaka became the first pitcher ever since the DH was introduced into the Pacific League to drive in a pair with a pinch hit knock and he was only the third different pitcher to go up in a pinch hit role in post-DH circuit annals.

Red Sox Firsts

• Game: April 5, 2007 as a Starting Pitcher
• Pitching Appearance: April 5, 2007 (MLB debut)
• Pitching Line: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
• Strikeout: April 5, 2007 (first in MLB)
• Start: April 5, 2007 (first in MLB)
• Win: April 5, 2007 (first in MLB)
• Save: None
• Plate Appearance: June 10, 2007, Strikeout (Randy Johnson)
• Hit: None
• Home Run: None
• Stolen Base: None

External Links

• The Baseball Cube Player Page
• Matsuzaka Watch blog
• Google-translated yahoo page
• matsuzakadaisuke.com
• Article from 1999 talking about him going pro.
• Ask Bill Nye

Videos

• Matsuzaka facing Matsui and Ichiro in Japan
• Matsuzaka facing the MLB All-Stars in 2004 (and featuring Alex Cora!) (Part 1)
• Matsuzaka facing the MLB All-Stars in 2004 (Part 2)