Tetsuya Matsumoto

Tetsuya Matsumoto (松本 哲也)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 6", Weight 145 lb.

• School Senshu University
• High School Yamanashi Gakuin High School

• Born July 3, 1984 in Yamanashi, Yamanashi Japan

BR register page

Biographical information

Tetsuya Matsumoto played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 9 years.

Matsumoto was taken by the Yomiuri Giants in the third round of the development phase in the 2006 NPB draft. He made it to the parent club in 2008, appearing as a defensive sub in center field on May 28. In his first plate appearance three days later, he grounded out but broke his ankle while heading to first base. He would only appear in 3 games as a rookie, with that one at-bat and also one stolen base. His first hit came on April 5, 2009 against Masaki Hayashi. He hit .293/.338/.328 in 2009 in 129 games, playing regularly in center field. He stole 16 bases in 25 tries. He was 4th in the Central League with 27 sacrifice hits (between Keiichi Hirano and Masato Akamatsu) and was 7th in steals (between Norichika Aoki and Atsushi Fujii). He was named the CL Rookie of the Year and won a NPB Gold Glove.

The Yamanashi native was selected into the 2010 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 1-for-4 with a single against Satoshi Nagai in Game 2. He was the first development player to appear in the NPB All-Star Game. Matsumoto ended up hitting .287/.331/.341 in 2010, and he was 9th in steals (between Soichiro Amaya and Hayato Sakamoto). However, he struggled in 2011, and he was 1-for-19 in 20 games. Matsumoto bounced back with a .258/.313/.313 batting line in 2012, and he was 3-for-4 in the 2012 Nippon Series Game 3. He tied the Nippon Series record for most sacrifice bunts with 6, and he help the Giants beat the Nippon Ham Fighters in 6 games.

Matsumoto had a .237/.315/.258 batting line in 91 games in 2013, and he went 2-for-11 in the 2013 Nippon Series; the Giants lost to the Rakuten Golden Eagles in 7 games. He played 75 games with a .275/.326/.288 batting line in 2014, and he was 5-for-34 in 44 games in 2015. Matsumoto struggled again in 2016 as he had a .174/.208/.217 batting line in 52 games, and he announced his retirement in 2017. He was Yomiuri's minor league fielding coach from 2018 to 2022, and he became their fielding coach for the top team in 2025.

Overall, Matsumoto hit .263/.313/.302 with 336 hits and 65 steals in 9 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan