Taira Uematsu

Taira Uematsu (植松 泰良)

• Throws Right, Bats Right

• School University of California, Santa Barbara, Southern Illinois University
• High School Seibudai Chiba High School

• Born September 26, 1983 in Tateyama, Chiba Japan

Biographical Information

When he was named assistant coach by the San Francisco Giants before the 2022 season, Taira Uematsu became the first person born and raised in Japan to accede to the major league coaching ranks. Others, most famously Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had been born in the country but raised in the United States.

His birthplace was not the only unusual aspect of Uematsu's background. He was not a professional player, but joined the Giants in 2008 as a training room assistant and sometimes bullpen catcher, helping out with various unglamorous tasks around the clubhouse. He had moved to California in 2000 to perfect his English, after an unpleasant experience playing high school baseball in Japan, where repetitive practice drills beat the fun out of the game for him. While attending the University of California, Santa Barbara, he figured he could have a future in sports training and in 2003 began the course work that eventually led to his initial unpaid internship with the Giants, after earning a degree from Southern Illinois University.

Uematsu entered professional baseball in 2006 as an intern bullpen catcher with the Fresno Grizzlies and became the full-time bullpen catcher in 2007. The Giants promoted him to the major leagues in 2008 where he served as a bullpen catcher/medical assistant. Uematsu made himself indispensable to managers Bruce Bochy and Gabe Kapler by also pitching batting practice and giving a hand wherever he could, including as a Japanese interpreter, earning himself the nickname "Mr. Omnipresent". When assistant coach Mark Hallberg was promoted to third base coach following the retirement of Ron Wotus, Uematsu was promoted to Hallberg's former position for the 2022 season. He remained a major league assistant coach in 2023 and 2024.

Further Reading

• Jim Allen: "From high school nightmare to living the baseball dream", The Japan Times, February 16, 2017. [1]
• Andrew Baggarly: "‘Mr. Omnipresent’: How Giants coach Taira Uematsu pursued a dream and made history", The Athletic, December 21, 2021. [2]