Hiroaki Matsuura

Hiroaki Matsuura (松浦 宏明) (Rally Matsu)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lbs.

• High School Funabashi Hoden High School

• Born May 19, 1966 in Funabashi, Chiba, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hiroaki Matsuura pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years and once led the league in wins.

Matsuura was signed by the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 1985, but he spent most of his first two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, and only pitched 7 games with the big club. He finally managed to stay in the major league in 1987, and went 8-5 with 8 saves and a 3.54 ERA. The Fighters had many comeback wins when Matsuura pitched, so he earned the nickname "Rally Matsu".

The Funabashi native had a career year in 1988. He went 15-5 with a 2.76 ERA, and led the Pacific League in wins. Matsuura also ranked 6th in ERA (.38 behind Hirofumi Kono), 5th in strikeouts (51 behind Hiroshi Ogawa) and 2nd in winning percentage (.73 behind Taigen Kaku. He suffered from an elbow injury and missed the 1989 season, but came back soon and had a 11-8 record with a 3.47 ERA in 1990. He slumped to 9-9 with a 5.21 ERA the next season, and only only went 2-5 with a 4.29 ERA in 1992. Matsuura bounced back a little in 1993 as a reliever, posting a 3.10 ERA in 30 relief outings. However, the 1993 season was his last productive year. His ERA rose to 6.85 ERA in 1994, and the Fighters traded him to the Yokohama BayStars for Toru Okamoto. Matsuura struggled again with the Baystars as his ERA was 7.31, then he announced his retirement after the 1995 season. After retiring, he coached the Shanghai Eagles of the China Baseball League in 2013, then coached the Jiangsu Pegasus from 2014 to 2015.

Overall, Matsuura was 54-46 with a 4.32 ERA, struck out 585 and pitched 765 innings in 11 years in the NPB.

Related Sites

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio