Hideki Matsui, the slugging outfielder who brought his bat from the Far East to the East Coast nine years ago, has returned to the American League East two seasons after leaving the Yankees.
The Tampa Bay Rays have signed the 37-year-old to a minor-league contract, the club's executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman announced today. Matsui, who can provide the Rays with some sting at the plate and, perhaps, depth in the outfield, will report to Port Charlotte, Fla., with an extended spring training assignment.
In the announcement, Friedman called Matsui "one of the most consistently productive hitters in the world" over the past two decades.
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After winning the Central League MVP award three times during his stint with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league, Matsui signed with the Yankees for the 2003 season.
In the Bronx, he was twice named an All-Star. Including one-year stints with the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A's, Matsui has hit .285 in Major League Baseball, with 173 home runs and 753 RBI. Last season, with the A's, Mastsui hit 251 with 12 home runs and 72 RBI.
In his final act with the Yankees, Mastsui was named Most Valuable Player of the 2009 World Series. In helping the Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies, four games to two, Matsui hit .615, with three home runs and eight RBI (six of which came in the series-clinching Game 6 victory).