#1松井裕樹
San Diego Padres · P · Bats L, Throws L
FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) measures a pitcher's true skill using only home runs, walks, hit-by-pitches and strikeouts — outcomes the pitcher controls. By stripping out defense and luck, it tracks real ability more closely than ERA.
Yuki Matsui's 2026 FIP is 4.34, rated as "below average". That's 0.34 above the MLB average of about 4.00, leaving room to improve.
Yuki Matsui is spending the early part of the 2026 season rehabbing, with no MLB appearances through April 27. Reports indicate he has resumed game appearances at Triple-A El Paso as he works toward a May return. The Padres' reliable left-handed reliever — who made 60+ appearances in each of his first two MLB seasons — is expected to return to the active roster once cleared.
Yuki Matsui joined the Padres in 2024 after recording 200+ career saves with the Rakuten Eagles in NPB. He hit the ground running in MLB, logging 60+ appearances in each of his first two seasons as a versatile reliever. His effectiveness against left-handed hitters makes him a valuable bullpen weapon, and in 2026, Matsui is targeting a permanent setup role for San Diego.
23 starts · 35 total strikeouts
| Date | Opp | IP | K | HR | BB | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/8 | vsARI | 0.1 | 1 | - | 0 | - |
| 7/6 | @LAD | 0.2 | 0 | - | 2 | - |
| 7/3 |
Loading season chart…
| Year | Team | APP | GS | W | L | ERA | IP | K | WHIP | SV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024BEST | - | 64 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3.73 | 62.2 | 69 | 1.16 | 0 |
| 2025 | - | 61 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.98 | 63.1 | 61 | 1.36 | 1 |
| 2026BEST | - | 23 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.01 | 31.1 | 35 | 1.28 | 0 |
| Career | - | 148 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 3.49 | 157.1 | 165 | 1.26 | 1 |
Matsui has no MLB appearances through April 27, 2026 — he is rehabbing and working back through Triple-A El Paso. Reports indicate game appearances at the minor league level have resumed and a May return to the active roster is expected. His career stats and previous season logs are available in the stats section on this page.
Matsui has zero MLB appearances through April 27, 2026 — he opened the season on the IL and is rehabbing at Triple-A El Paso. Reports indicate minor league game appearances have resumed, with a May return to the active roster expected. In his first two MLB seasons (2024-2025), he logged 60+ appearances each year as a left-handed specialist; that role is waiting for him once cleared.
Matsui recorded 200+ career saves as the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles closer before joining the Padres in 2024. In his first two MLB seasons he made 60+ appearances each year as a left-handed reliever, primarily a left-on-left specialist with setup-inning usage. With Yu Darvish also rehabbing in 2026 (Tommy John, mid-2027 target), Matsui's May return matters to the Padres' bullpen depth — he projects directly back into high-leverage left-handed match-up situations once cleared.
Matsui is a left-handed relief pitcher (bullpen) for the San Diego Padres. He is most valuable as a left-handed specialist — his effectiveness against left-handed hitters makes him a high-leverage weapon in the late innings. The Padres also use him in setup situations and multi-out appearances when match-ups align.
Yuki Matsui was born on October 21, 1995, making him 30 years old during the 2026 MLB season. He joined the Padres in 2024 after a decorated NPB career with the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles, where he accumulated 200+ career saves as their closer.
Matsui's greatest MLB asset is his effectiveness against left-handed batters. His tight breaking ball and deceptive arm angle create natural movement away from left-handed swings, generating weak contact and strikeouts. This left-on-left dominance is the primary reason the Padres have kept him on their roster across two seasons and why his return from injury is important to their bullpen construction.
As of April 27, 2026, Matsui is progressing through a rehab assignment at Triple-A El Paso and a May return to the active Padres roster is expected. His injury status and return timeline are updated on this page as new information becomes available.
Matsui is currently rehabbing and has no MLB appearances through April 27, 2026. His latest rehab outings at Triple-A El Paso, return timeline, and Padres roster updates are surfaced in the stats box at the top of this page and on the dedicated "Today" page. A May return to the active Padres roster is expected.
Yuki Matsui plays for the San Diego Padres as a left-handed relief pitcher. He signed a 5-year deal with San Diego in 2024 and is in year 3 of that contract in 2026. After rehabbing through April, he is expected to return as a left-handed specialist / setup option in the Padres bullpen — a role he established with 60+ appearances in each of his first two MLB seasons.
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Data: MLB Stats API · Auto-updated hourly
【2026 as of 4/27】Rehab program progressing — game appearances resumed at Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas with a May return timeline. No MLB appearances yet in 2026, but the Padres expect him back in the bullpen role he established over two strong seasons
| @LAD |
| 1.0 |
| 1 |
| - |
| 2 |
| - |
| 6/29 | vsLAD | 1.2 | 2 | - | 0 | - |
| 6/27 | vsLAD | 0.2 | 0 | - | 1 | - |
| 6/24 | vsATL | 2.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 6/22 | @TEX | 1.0 | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| 6/20 | @TEX | 1.2 | 3 | - | 1 | - |
| 6/17 | @STL | 1.1 | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| 6/14 | @BAL | 1.0 | 2 | - | 0 | - |
| 6/10 | vsCIN | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | L |
| 6/8 | vsNYM | 1.2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - |
| 6/6 | vsNYM | 0.1 | 1 | - | 0 | - |
| 6/5 | @PHI | 1.0 | 2 | - | 1 | - |
| 6/3 | @PHI | 0.2 | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| 6/1 | @WSH | 1.0 | 1 | - | 0 | - |
| 5/30 | @WSH | 2.0 | 1 | - | 0 | - |
| 5/26 | vsPHI | 2.0 | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| 5/21 | vsLAD | 1.1 | 2 | - | 2 | - |
| 5/18 | @SEA | 2.0 | 2 | - | 2 | - |
| 5/15 | @MIL | 2.0 | 3 | - | 1 | - |
| 5/13 | @MIL | 2.0 | 3 | - | 0 | - |
| 5/9 | vsSTL | 2.2 | 2 | - | 1 | - |
In-depth metrics aggregated from every at-bat and pitch. Collapsed by default.
Data as of: 2026-07-05
Green = improvement, red = decline. "—" means no data in the same month last year.
Pitching
| May | Jun | Jul | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ERA | -3.62 | -5.20 | +4.09 |
| K | +8 | +8 | -4 |
| WHIP | -0.63 | -0.38 | +2.50 |
Comprehensive 2026 season analysis generated by Claude AI from stats data (as of Jul 6, 2026).
Through 21 appearances and 30.1 innings, Matsui carries a 2.08 ERA, comfortably better than the MLB average of 3.62 and beyond the P90 mark of 2.49, placing him among the league's top relievers by run prevention. WHIP sits at 1.19, essentially matching the league average and well off the P75 (1.10) and P90 (0.99) thresholds. That gap between an elite ERA and an average WHIP suggests the surface-level run prevention is outperforming the underlying baserunner rate, a pattern worth watching for regression as the sample grows.
The clearest gain is strikeout rate: 10.09 K/9 this season versus 9.91 in 2024 and 8.67 in 2025, now sitting just above the P75 benchmark of 10.01. Combined with a career-best ERA, the swing-and-miss improvement looks like the primary driver of the season's results. The 34 strikeouts in 30.1 innings also represent his most efficient strikeout-to-innings ratio in three MLB seasons, a meaningful step up from both prior years rather than a small-sample blip.
Walk rate is the clear outlier. At 4.75 BB/9, Matsui is well above the MLB average of 2.77 and far from the P75 (2.14) and P90 (1.82) marks that define command-efficient relievers. This is the largest gap between his profile and league norms across any tracked metric, and it is propping up the WHIP despite the low ERA. If contact management or sequencing luck normalizes, the walk rate is the number most likely to push his results back toward the mean.
The rest of the season likely hinges on whether the walk rate tightens. The strikeout gains appear real and consistent with a career-best trend, giving him margin even if some hard contact or sequencing luck evens out. But a 4.75 BB/9 is not sustainable at this level of run prevention over a full season; some ERA regression toward the mid-2s to low-3s range would be the expected path if command does not improve, while any drop in walks would reinforce the current elite-tier trajectory.
AI-generated content (Claude) · Based on stats as of Jul 6, 2026
Older games on the left, most recent on the right. Color shows how they played.
Best: 6IP+ / ≤1ER · Good: 5IP+ / ≤2ER · OK: 4IP+ / ≤3ER · 4ER · ≥5ER (blowup)
Percentile rank against all MLB players (P25/P50/P75/P90). Triangle = player, line = MLB avg.
Current season pitch data by type. Velocity, spin rate, movement, whiff rate, and CSW% at a glance.
| Pitch | Usage | Velo (mph) | Spin | H-Mvmt | V-Mvmt | Whiff% | CSW% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four-Seam Fastball | 37.7% | 91.8 | 2,427 | +3.3" | +11.4" | 22.6% | 32.5% |
| Slider |
Situational splits for the current season. See strengths and weaknesses by scenario.
| Split | OAVG | OOPS | HR | K | BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHB | .186 | .704 | 2 | 15 | 9 |
| vs LHB | .203 | .663 | 2 | 19 | 7 |
| Split |
|---|
Career-long performance trends for every key stat. How does this year compare to history?
| Season | G | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 64 | 62.2 | 3.73 | 1.16 |
| 85.5 |
| 2,671 |
| -1.9" |
| +3.3" |
| 43.1% |
| 35.0% |
| Splitter | 26.5% | 83.1 | 1,110 | +5.4" | +2.0" | 48.1% | 34.3% |
| Sweeper | 5.3% | 81.0 | 2,877 | -7.1" | -1.8" | 22.2% | 18.5% |
| Sinker | 2.2% | 90.5 | 2,093 | +7.1" | +6.8" | 0.0% | 0.0% |
H-Mvmt/V-Mvmt (inch): movement vs. a spinless ball. + = toward 3B / up, − = toward 1B / down. Whiff% = whiffs / swings, CSW% = (called strikes + whiffs) / pitches.
| Splitter | 26.5% | 37.2% | .250 | 48.1% |
| Sweeper | 5.3% | — | — | 22.2% |
| Sinker | 2.2% | — | — | 0.0% |
K%: rate of strikeouts among plate appearances where this pitch type was the final pitch. Whiff%: whiffs per swing. Types with fewer than 10 pitches excluded.
| OAVG |
|---|
| OOPS |
|---|
| HR |
|---|
| K |
|---|
| BB |
|---|
| Home | .250 | .884 | 4 | 13 | 6 |
| Away | .148 | .501 | 0 | 21 | 10 |
3.88 |
69 |
| 2025 | 61 | 63.1 | 3.98 | 1.36 | 8.67 | 4.69 | 61 |
| 2026Now | 21 | 30.1 | 2.08 | 1.19 | 10.09 | 4.75 | 34 |
All 23 games of the 2026 season. Showing latest 10; click to expand.
| Date | Opp | IP | H | ER | BB | K | ER/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/08 | vs ARI | 0.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 07/06 | @ LAD | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 |
| @ LAD | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 18.00 | |
| vs LAD | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | |
| vs LAD | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| vs ATL | 2.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3.86 | |
| @ TEX | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 | |
| @ TEX | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.00 | |
| @ STL | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 | |
| @ BAL | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Date | Opp | IP | H | ER | BB | K | ER/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs CIN | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| 1.2 |
| 2 |
| 2 |
| 0 |
| 1 |
| 10.80 |
| 06/06 | vs NYM | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 06/05 | @ PHI | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.00 |
| 06/03 | @ PHI | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 06/01 | @ WSH | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 05/30 | @ WSH | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 |
| 05/26 | vs PHI | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 05/21 | vs LAD | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.00 |
| 05/18 | @ SEA | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.00 |
| 05/15 | @ MIL | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.00 |
| 05/13 | @ MIL | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.00 |
| 05/09 | vs STL | 2.2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.00 |
