{"id":50799,"date":"2025-05-24T04:20:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T04:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50799"},"modified":"2025-05-24T04:20:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T04:20:52","slug":"new-york-yankees-will-be-top-contender-for-second-coming-of-hideki-matsui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50799","title":{"rendered":"New York Yankees will be top contender for second coming of Hideki Matsui?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-meta\">\n<div class=\"tpd-social-container\">\n<div class=\"social-share-dropdown\">\n<p class=\"social-share\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<figure class=\"tpd-post-thumbnail-container caption_hide credit_onImage\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium tpd-force-16x9-aspect-ratio wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Baseball-World-Baseball-Classic-Championship-Japan-vs-USA-20288044.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 788px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=428,height=241,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Baseball-World-Baseball-Classic-Championship-Japan-vs-USA-20288044.jpg 428w, https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Baseball-World-Baseball-Classic-Championship-Japan-vs-USA-20288044.jpg 788w\" alt=\"new york yankees\" width=\"788\" height=\"444\" \/><figcaption><span class=\"credit-text\">Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The new age version of legendary Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui is expected to be available in free agency later this year, and the\u00a0New York Yankees are among the early favorites to sign him.<\/p>\n<p>When Matsui arrived in New York in 2003, there was hope that he could be much better than Hideki Irabu. A man with the same first name, but who was so frustrating that then-Yankees owner George Steinbrenner once called him a fat toad. Well, Matsui ended up becoming a huge fan favorite during 10 memorable seasons in the Bronx.<\/p>\n<p>The prolific power hitter didn\u2019t smash home runs like he did in Japan. However, he instead turned into a good all-around hitter in New York. Earning two All-Star appearances and was fantastic in the playoffs. Well, this week,\u00a0The Athletic MLB insider Jim Bowden\u00a0listed the Yankees (if he is open to playing third base) among the six early favorites to sign Nippon Professional Baseball star Munetaka Murakami when he hits the free agent market in the winter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tpd-incontent-ad-container advertisement-label hasDskAd hasMobAd\">\n<div id=\"dsk-box-ad-d\" data-google-query-id=\"\">\n<div id=\"tpd-fallback-tag-dsk-box-ad-d\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Murakami is a similar hitter to Matsui. So the idea of getting a player akin to the popular outfielder would certainly excite Yankees fans. Especially if he could be a potential option for them at third base after this season. However, according to Bowden, the 25-year-old would be a much better fit defensively at first base.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large mobile-image-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1306385\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Baseball-World-Baseball-Classic-Championship-Japan-vs-USA-20287069-788x525.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=788,height=525,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Baseball-World-Baseball-Classic-Championship-Japan-vs-USA-20287069.jpg 788w, https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/width=428,height=285,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Baseball-World-Baseball-Classic-Championship-Japan-vs-USA-20287069.jpg 428w\" alt=\"new york yankees\" width=\"788\" height=\"525\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cKnown for his prodigious power, the left-handed hitting corner infielder\/outfielder has amassed 242 homers and 671 RBIs over his eight-season foreign career,\u201d Bowden wrote. \u201cHe won a Triple Crown. And holds the single-season Nippon Professional Baseball record for home runs (56) among Japanese-born players, which he set in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has hit at least 30 homers in five straight seasons and six of the past seven years. His career slash line is .273\/.395\/.544,\u201d he added. \u201cMurakami profiles as a .240 to .260 type hitter in MLB with legitimate 30-home run power. Defensively, he\u2019s below average at third base and adequate at first base.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To the surprise of many, future Hall of Famer Paul Goldschmidt has had an outstanding start to his Yankees career. If he keeps it up and plays well in the postseason, New York might prefer to go with him again next season. Instead of the Japanese import.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images The new age version of legendary Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui is expected to be available in free agency later this year, and the\u00a0New&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New York Yankees will be top contender for second coming of Hideki Matsui? - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50799\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York Yankees will be top contender for second coming of Hideki Matsui? 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