Born: (1980-09-13) September 13, 1980 (age 43) Koto Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Professional debut
NPB: April 7, 1999, for the Seibu Lions
MLB: April 5, 2007, for the Boston Red Sox
Last appearance
MLB: September 25, 2014, for the New York Mets
NPB: October 19, 2021, for the Saitama Seibu Lions
NPB statistics
Win–loss record
114–65
Earned run average
3.04
Strikeouts
1,410
MLB statistics
Win-loss record
56–43
Earned run average
4.45
Strikeouts
720
Teams
Seibu Lions (1999–2006)
Boston Red Sox (2007–2012)
New York Mets (2013–2014)
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2015–2016)
Chunichi Dragons (2018–2019)
Saitama Seibu Lions (2021)
Career highlights and awards
NPB
7× All-Star (1999–2001, 2004–2006, 2018)
2× Japan Series champion (2004, 2017)
Eiji Sawamura Award (2001)
Pacific League Rookie of the Year (1999)
7× Mitsui Golden Glove Award (1999–2001, 2003–2006)
3× Best Nine Award (1999–2001)
Comeback Player of the Year (2018)
3× NPB wins leader (1999–2001)
2× NPB ERA leader (2003, 2004)
4× NPB strikeout leader (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005)
MLB
World Series champion (2007)
Medals
Men's baseball
Representing Japan
World Baseball Classic
2006 San Diego
Team
2009 Los Angeles
Team
Olympic Games
2004 Athens
Team
Asian Baseball Championship
1999 Seoul
Team
2003 Sapporo
Team
Daisuke Matsuzaka (松坂 大輔, Matsuzaka Daisuke, [matsɯꜜzakadaꜜisɯ̥ke]; born September 13, 1980) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, reporter, and YouTuber[citation needed]. Daisuke is nicknamed "the Monster of the Heisei Era" (平成の怪物, heisei no kaibutsu)[1][2] in Japan and "Dice-K" in the United States[3] by The Boston Globe[4][5] and USA Today.[6] He played for the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Saitama Seibu Lions, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Matsuzaka was selected the MVP of the inaugural and the second World Baseball Classic, and is an Olympic bronze medalist.[7]
He is the first player to have won both a World Series and a World Baseball Classic, winning the 2006 World Baseball Classic with Team Japan and the 2007 World Series with the Red Sox.[8]
^Ellsesser, Stephen (September 27, 2006). "Marines rough up Matsuzaka; Lions fail to grab No. 1 seed". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2009.
^"Lost in translation?". The Boston Globe. December 15, 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
^Brown, Tim (December 18, 2006). "At the letters: Shooting Dais". Yahoo!. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
^Cite error: The named reference whitingchat2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Edes, Gordon (December 7, 2006). "Getting dicey with Matsuzaka". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
^Nightengale, Bob (November 7, 2006). "Auction for Japanese pitcher Matsuzaka may be pitched battle". USA Today. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
^Bloom, Barry M. (March 21, 2006). "World Baseball Classic: News". World Baseball Classic. Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved November 12, 2006.
^"ワールドシリーズとワールド・ベースボール・クラシックの両方で優勝を経験した選手一覧", Wikipedia (in Japanese), December 11, 2019, retrieved December 17, 2019.
Matsuzaka(松坂) may refer to: DaisukeMatsuzaka, Japanese baseball player Keiko Matsuzaka, Japanese actress Teruhisa Matsusaka, Japanese-American mathematician...
in 2006 was Japan's DaisukeMatsuzaka, who pitched 13 innings and finished with a 3–0 record. Soon after this performance, Matsuzaka received a multimillion-dollar...
Award. The 2007 World Series had the most Japanese players, with DaisukeMatsuzaka and Hideki Okajima pitching for the Boston Red Sox, and Kazuo Matsui...
was also the 600th World Series game ever played. Starting pitcher DaisukeMatsuzaka pitched five innings of scoreless ball and left in the sixth with...
"Gyroball". The pitch was included in the arsenal of DaisukeMatsuzaka. However, because Matsuzaka was not yet with the Red Sox, players had to simulate...
from the Boston Red Sox for the right to negotiate a contract with DaisukeMatsuzaka. Between 1978 and 2008, the team logo and mascot were based on the...
NPB history to reach 100M yen in salary in his third year, after DaisukeMatsuzaka in 2001. His new contract more than tripled his previous salary estimated...
other stars from Japan such as Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and DaisukeMatsuzaka to come over to the States as well. In addition, Nomo is one of only...
official name Tomoyo Matsuzaka) is a former announcer for Nippon TV in Japan. Shibata is married to baseball pitcher DaisukeMatsuzaka. They met during the...
Red Sox in 2010. He began the year in the starting rotation until DaisukeMatsuzaka came off the disabled list. He later rejoined the rotation due to...
competed for the rights to negotiate a contract with Japanese pitcher DaisukeMatsuzaka. Boston won with a bid of US$51.1 million and had 30 days to complete...
former Chunichi Dragons and Saitama Seibu Lions starting pitcher DaisukeMatsuzaka's age group. As per Japanese laws on how children are to be divided...
pitchers such as Hiroki Kuroda, Noboru Akiyama, Kenjiro Kawasaki, DaisukeMatsuzaka, Yu Darvish and Masumi Kuwata. The most renowned shuuto pitcher in...
10–6 to be crowned the first champion of the World Baseball Classic. DaisukeMatsuzaka, a NPB veteran who was little-known outside Japan at the time, was...
actor Richard D. James (Aphex Twin), British electronic musician DaisukeMatsuzaka (born 1980), Boston Red Sox pitcher Thom McGinty, Scottish-Irish street...
the final game 5–3 in 10 innings. For the second straight Classic, DaisukeMatsuzaka was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. As was the case...
being the namesake of former Major League Baseball pitcher DaisukeMatsuzaka. "History Matsuzaka.nikkansports.com". 2008-06-09. Archived from the original...
over the course of his high school career (2004–2006), surpassing DaisukeMatsuzaka's previous national high school record of 423 with Yokohama Senior...
complete game 18 innings was Eiji Bando in a 1958 quarterfinal game. DaisukeMatsuzaka became the last pitcher to pitch a complete game over 15 innings (17...
acquired by MLB teams through the posting system are Ichiro Suzuki, DaisukeMatsuzaka, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka, and Shohei Ohtani. The first three attracted...
University Hokkaido Wakkanai High School Wakkanai Otani High School The DaisukeMatsuzaka Museum, dedicated to the baseball pitcher "Dice-K" and opened in 2008...
batting average, slightly above the Mendoza Line that is named for him. DaisukeMatsuzaka made a rehabilitation start for Salem in September 2009, in a Carolina...
June 28. He recorded his first major league RBI on July 1, against DaisukeMatsuzaka. Bethancourt batted .240 with the Braves in 13 games, and was demoted...