Tetsuya Matoyama

Tetsuya Matoyama (的山 哲也)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 182 lbs.

• High School Fukusaki High School

• Born October 1, 1970 in Himeji, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Tetsuya Matoyama played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 15 years.

Matoyama was drafted by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in the third round of the 1993 NPB draft, but he spent most of his first three seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, and only played 67 games combined in the Pacific League. He took the starting catcher spot from Koichi Isobe in 1997, hitting .197/.247/.278 that season, then had a .230/.319/.320 batting line in 1998. Matoyama improved to .235/.307/.371 in 1999, and blasted a career-high 8 homers. He went 1-for-2 in 1999 NPB All-Star Game 3, but didn't get an at-bat in the other two games.

The Himeji native struggled in 2000 as his batting line was .172/.257/.252, and Isobe took back the starting spot. He only had a terrible .177/.234/.280 batting line in 2001, and went 0-fof-2 as a backup catcher in the 2001 Nippon Series; the Buffaloes were beaten by the Yakult Swallows in 5 games. Matoyama improved to .208/.275/.297 in 2002, and he was selected into the 2002 NPB All-Star Game when Kenji Johjima withdrew. In Game 2, he collected a clutch RBI single from Kevin Hodges, and won the MVP. He was the first catcher to win the All-Star MVP since Masataka Nashida did it in 1983, and Nashida was coincidentally the manager of the PL in that game.

When Akihito Fujii shined in 2003, Matoyama was used as a backup again and he hit .200/.283/.315. He had a .221/.290/.307 batting line in 81 games in 2004, then he was assigned to the Orix Buffaloes when Kintetsu and Orix merged. Matoyama slumped to .167/.241/.256 in 2005, and he never played more than 60 games in the next two seasons. He was traded to the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks for cash after the 2007 season, but he only played 40 games for the Hawks, then announced his retirement in 2008. After retiring, he was the battery coach for the Hawks from 2009 to 2013 and in 2015. He also coached their minor league team in 2014 and from 2016 to 2022. He worked for their big club again starting from 2023.

Overall, Matoyama had hit .206/.279/.307 with 423 hits in 15 seasons in NPB.

Related Sites

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan