Yuki Matsumoto

Yuki Matsumoto (松本 裕樹)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 194 lbs.

• High School The University of Morioka Affiliated High School

• Born April 14, 1996 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yuki Matsumoto pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Matsumoto was drafted by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the first round of the 2014 NPB draft, but he missed his first two seasons due to right elbow injury. He was 2-4 with a 4.78 ERA in 2017, but he only started 6 games due to a back injury in 2018. Matsumoto suffered from the same injury again in 2019, and he had a 4.01 ERA in 7 starts. The Hawks turned him into a reliever in [2020 in Japanese Baseball|2020]], and he had a 3.49 ERA in 25 relief outings. He pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts in the 2020 Nippon Series Game 4, and he got the win over Seishu Hatake. The Hawks swept the Yomiuri Giants, and Matsumoto won his first Nippon Series title.

The Yokohama native completed a no-hitter with Carter Stewart, Yuki Tsumori, Shinya Kayama, Yugo Bando and Hiroshi Kaino on August 15, 2021. However, the Hawks also couldn't score, so it was a tie after 12 innings. That game was the first no-hitter which was a tie in NPB history. He ended up collecting 4 holds with a 3.79 ERA in 33 appearances in 2021. Matsumoto improved to a 2.66 ERA in 44 games with 15 holds in 2022, then he notched 25 holds with a 2.68 ERA in 53 relief outings in 2023. He was 4th in holds (tied with Takahide Ikeda and Shota Watanabe) and 7th in appearances (tied with Soichiro Yamazaki, Livan Moinelo and Seiryu Uchi) in the Pacific League.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio