Second Life
As Japan’s regular baseball season wraps up this month, two foreign pitchers reflect on how a move to the Yomiuri Giants allowed them to kick-start faltering careers.
Scott Mathieson pulls back the sleeve of his polo shirt to reveal a grisly scar, like a scarecrow’s smile, running from his bicep to forearm.
The Club Member had elbow surgery three times between 2006 and 2007, when he was a starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Sitting out the 2008 season, he watched from the bench as his teammates won the World Series. He considered hanging up his cleats.
“There were plenty of times I wanted to, but at the end of the day I’m getting paid to play a game,” says Mathieson, 31, now a relief pitcher for Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants. “It’s hard to walk away from something like that.”
Sitting next to Mathieson in CHOP Steakhouse one a weekday morning is Giants teammate and starting pitcher Aaron Poreda. He appreciates Mathieson’s struggles. He, too, underwent so-called Tommy John surgery, named after the first major-leaguer to receive the treatment in 1974.
The surgery, which requires around 16 months’ recovery, nearly derailed both of their careers. They found a fresh start in Tokyo.
“I have never had anybody chant my name before,” says Poreda of the reception from Giants fans. “You’re running out and everyone is cheering. It is quite an exhilarating experience.”
Canadian Mathieson was drafted by the Phillies in 2002 after high school. He arrived in the majors in 2006, but by the end of the season his elbow ligament was frayed. He went under the knife and was back on the field in 2007.
“My first pitch back, my nerve, the ulnar nerve, came out of its groove, and my hand kind of paralyzed. My fingers were stuck,” says Mathieson. “I had emergency surgery to move the nerve back.”
On his first throw after the second surgery, Mathieson dropped to the ground. The elbow ligament was torn. He underwent Tommy John surgery again, returning two years later.
“My time in the majors was up and down. I wasn’t pitching, I was a bench guy,” he says. After the Phillies mentioned a connection with the Yomiuri Giants, Mathieson says he took up the offer of “a new experience.”
In 2012, his first year with Yomiuri, Mathieson closed nearly every game of the Giants’ triumphant championship series. The following season, Mathieson was arguably the league’s best relief pitcher. Major-league teams offered guaranteed contracts, but Mathieson, the only pitcher to top 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour) in the Tokyo Dome, chose to stay with the Giants.
“It was a tough decision. You grow up wanting to be a major-league player, and that’s your dream,” he says. “Just knowing I would be able to pitch and I would be a big part of the team, that’s what made me stay here.”
Club Member Poreda, who turns 29 this month, arrived in Tokyo last January and is one of the Giants’ five starting pitchers.
The Californian was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2007. Power lefties are rare, especially those who pitch with control, and, by 2008, he was the team’s No 1 prospect. He made his big-league debut in 2009, but was traded to the San Diego Padres halfway through the season. There, he was converted to a relief pitcher.
“I think it was a combination of some arm trouble, pressure and high expectation, and I kind of started sinking like a rock,” says Poreda. “My control was sporadic. I couldn’t get guys out. …Finally my arm blew out.”
Poreda had Tommy John surgery in 2012. Teams assumed he was retired until he held a private workout before the 2014 season. He was signed by the Texas Rangers and appeared in 26 games in 2014. He recorded a 103 mile-per-hour (166 kilometers per hour) pitch for the Rangers’ AAA team, the fastest in the minors.
The Yomiuri Giants offered Poreda a guaranteed contract and the chance to be a starter. “[The Giants] want guys with big presence. They want high velocity, with control as well,” says the 1.98-meter Poreda. “Then they look at personality, too, if they will adjust to the culture.”
Many foreign-born players have struggled with the hands-on coaching style in Japan, but Poreda says Giants coaches helped him add two pitches to his repertoire.
Mathieson has a coach with him during his 45-minute warm-up routine, which Poreda says resembles a man trying to swat flies while rocking on one leg.
“These guys joke with me and say I drank the Kool-Aid over here because I do a lot of crazy stuff,” says Mathieson. “In the major leagues, it’s no more teaching. You are expected to be polished and ready to go. …Here, they are always trying to coach and teach you new things.”
Mathieson says his goal is to finish his career with the Giants. “My wife and I, our whole family, we really love Japan,” he says. “Baseballwise, the travel is easy. I spend a lot more time with my family. It’s safe, it’s convenient. For having two kids, it’s easy to come [to the Club] to use the pool or the Library.”
Poreda has a son, with a second child due in December. “We come [to the Club] all the time,” he explains. “It’s just a place to unwind, relax and feel like you are almost back at home.”
Catch the Major League Baseball World Series live at Traders’ Bar from October 28.
Words: Nick Narigon
Photo: Steve Morin
