The most famous Japanese pitcher in Cuba said goodbye

By SwingCompleto / contacto@swingcompleto.com

It is true that there have been several Japanese pitchers who have penetrated deeply into the Cuban fans due to their results against the Cuban teams that have later joined outstanding performances in the United States Major Leagues. Hideo Nomo, Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma or Masahiro Tanaka are among the most recognized on the Island, but there is one who could well top the list and who has just said goodbye to baseball.

It is about Daisuke Matsusaka, who at 41 years of age made the final launch of a very extensive sports career that began and ended with his Seibu Lions on the eve. In it there was a weighty intermission with his presence in the United States and in the most transcendental international events where he made himself felt in front of the selection of our country.

His beginnings as a professional were in 1999 with Seibu in the Japan Professional League and from that same premiere campaign he demonstrated his power (he was elected Rookie of the Year). Until 2006 he stopped accessing ten wins only once with a positive balance in each contest.

He took the lead in games won three times, with two awards in ERA and four in hits. In 2001, Eiji Sawamura captured the distinction, with seven gold gloves and an equal amount of participation in the All-Star Game.

After his return to the outstanding Japanese competition, his statistics were well away from that man who became the main pitching star of his country, except for the 2018 fight in which his work earned him the title “Comeback of the Year.” And after a totally inactive 2020 that seemed to mark the end of his sporting life, Matsusaka returned in 2021 to launch his last match.

His performance in the Major Leagues fell far short of the fame and talent with which he came to that baseball. His only stellar season was his second in 2008 with his 18-3 record, 2.09 ERA and 154 strikeouts that despite leading the American League in walks placed him among the elite in pitching and with votes for the Cy Young Award. The Red Sox were his main MLB team. With them he captured a championship ring in 2007, in an acceptable debut campaign with his record of 15-12 and ERA of 4.40.

Injuries and adaptation problems sidelined him in good numbers since 2009, so he was first traded to the Mets for 2013 and a year later he was out of work in the United States.

But Matsusaka Most of the people do not recognize him so much for his ephemeral star in the majors and much less for what he did in the league of his homeland for being very little spread in Cuba. His fame was based on his triumphs over the national team in two of the most notorious international events: the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the 2006 World Classic.

At the ecumenical event, he endorsed Cuba with his only defeat of the entire tournament, which fortunately happened in the qualifying stage, otherwise the third and last Olympic gold medal of Cuban baseball would have been frustrated. There the Japanese was impassable against a rival full of quality hitters, such as Yuli Gurriel, Michel Enríquez, Frederich Cepeda, Eduardo Paret and Osmani Urrutia. Back then he was the main pitchers of the Asian squad.

And that condition changed two years later when it was carried out the first version of the World Classic, the most successful by far for Cuban ball.

Matsusaka was the appointment of manager Sadaharu Oh to launch Cuba the game for the gold medal, a task that he fulfilled with the same mastery of Athens despite the early homerun by shortstop Eduardo Paret. Only the Japanese relay put the champions’ good advantage in jeopardy, especially after Cepeda’s home run at the end of the eighth inning that put our team to one of the equalizer (6 × 5).

Daisuke’s immaculate performance in the Classic where he finished as the MVP added to his exploits in the Japanese league with which he had already served the established time. This opened the doors to a millionaire contract in the United States that after a tough fight between several franchises ended up signing with Boston.

After 2008 at the level with which he reached the Major Leagues, he repeated his participation in the World Classic, and as in 2006 he won the collective title contributing to the cause. Of course, here the protagonism was much more shared with Darvish and Iwakuma, precisely those responsible for launching and beating Cuba in the second stage of the contest. And until his release of goodbye yesterday was about the last positive impact on this man’s shaky career. Not even his return to Japan generated the headlines that today invade a large part of the newspapers of the Japanese archipelago.