San Diego Padres reliever Yuki Matsui is dealing with a left groin strain that occurred during Thursday’s batting practice, putting his participation in the World Baseball Classic in jeopardy, according to Padres manager Craig Stammen.
The left-handed pitcher was forced to stop throwing after delivering approximately 20 pitches due to groin tightness. As a result, the team has removed him from his planned relief outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers this Sunday during spring training.
The injury raises concerns about Matsui’s ability to represent Japan, the current World Baseball Classic champions, in the upcoming international tournament.
“We’ve got to see how he comes out of this day off, and then how he feels (Saturday),” Stammen told reporters. “Honestly, I think it puts the WBC in question.”
Japan begins tournament play on March 6 when they face Chinese Taipei. Stammen indicated that the final choice regarding World Baseball Classic participation will ultimately rest with the 30-year-old pitcher, who is entering his third campaign with San Diego.
“He has got to make that decision,” Stammen said. “He has got to be able to talk with the coaches and the (general manager of Team Japan) and see if that’s still an option for him. It’s going to be a tough road for him to get healthy enough to be ready to pitch in the WBC. But I’ll let him address that.”
“We’ve had internal conversations about it. Ultimately, it’s up to him. We can’t call Team Japan and say, ‘Hey, Yuki is not pitching.’ Yuki has to make that decision, and I think he’ll come to a pretty good decision on that.”
During the 2023 season, Matsui compiled a 3-1 record with a 3.98 ERA across 61 relief outings. Throughout his San Diego career spanning 125 games, he holds a 7-3 record with a 3.86 ERA, though he has allowed 18 home runs over 126 innings pitched.
