The Padres on Saturday announced the signing of Japanese All-Star pitcher Yuki Matsui to a five-year contract.
What attracted the Friars to the lefty reliever?
“Obviously a great track record of really consistent excellence,” A.J. Preller, president of baseball operations and general manager, told MLB.com. He also has had various pitching gaps to fill, including the loss of Josh Hader to free agency.
Matsui began pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in 2014 when he was 18. He recorded 236 saves in 501 career appearances, all with the Tohuku Rakuten Golden Eagles. while becoming the youngest player ever to reach the 200-save plateau.
He is a five-time All-Star and recorded a 2.40 career ERA and 860 strikeouts over 10 seasons (2014-23). He led the Pacific League in saves three times in his career, most recently last season.
In 2023, Matsui, 28, posted a 1.57 ERA with a career-best 39 saves and 72 strikeouts in 59 games. He recorded an ERA under 2.00 in each of his last three seasons while compiling 95 saves with a 1.42 cumulative ERA over that stretch.
He also pitched for the gold medal winners, Japan, in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Matsui set a National Summer High School Championship record with a 22-strikeout performance in a game in 2012, breaking Yoshinora Toda’s 49-year-old record.
He was then the most popular player in the 2013 NPB draft with five of the 12 teams choosing him first overall before a lottery assigned his rights to the Golden Eagles.
USA Today reported the value of the contract at $28 million.
In another recent transaction, announced Dec. 15, the Padres acquired outfielder Drew Campbell from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for designated hitter/infielder Matt Carpenter, left-handed pitcher Ray Kerr and cash considerations.
