In 2010, Hideki Matsui has been the primary Designated Hitter for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This is his first year with the Angels, but Matsui has spent the previous eight years with the New York Yankees, and ten years before that with the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese Nippon Baseball League, where he was voted the Most Valuable Player three times.
Matsui was a big part of New York’s success during his tenure there, and hit 140 homers and had almost 1,000 hits for the Yankee’s from 2003-2009.
For the Angels, Matsui, is off to a slow start. He was the World Series MVP last year with the Yankees, so there is still plenty of pop in his bat, but at the age of 36, one would expect his numbers to drop a little. Matsui’s numbers may be below his career averages, but his batting average is still a respectable .261 and his nine home runs (as of June 17) are only 2 behind the team leader.
Despite being 36 years old and a veteran in his nineteenth professional season, Matsui is relatively healthy. He set a Major League record for consecutive games played to start a career (519) and before that, played in over 1,200 consecutive games before leaving Japan. He did miss most of 2006 with a wrist injury, but has been healthy since then. Now that Matsui is primarily a Designated Hitter, there’s no reason that he cannot continue to be a productive Major League hitter for a few more seasons.
