Original Interview in Spanish Can Be Seen Here
Nishinomiya, Japan – We just got back from Koshien Stadium where we had the pleasure to talk to Dominican pitcher Marcos Mateo, who has played three seasons in Japan so far, and had the kindness of sharing with us about the latest facts of his career in NPB.
The Hanshin right hander couldn’t be happier about being considered the best Central League middle reliever in 2017, but at the same time admits that this year has been tougher.
His fastball and high number of walks have been the main issues for his current struggles, but he believes that he can fix them right away. In his opinion, the league is way more competitive this year and he plans to stay in Japan as long as they give him a chance to pitch.
Q: How was the experience of winning the Central League Middle Reliever of the Year Award last year? It’s your first individual accomplishment in Japan.
First and foremost, I would like to thank God for this one and also the team for their trust in me out of the bullpen as a regular reliever. I worked hard last year to achieve my goals and to help my family, which is the most important thing. Unfortunately, this year things are not going my way, but I haven’t lost trust in myself. I believe that I’m gonna be back on top once again. I’m gonna fix these issues as soon as possible so I can be the same Mateo as last year.
Q: Speaking specifically about this matter, do you have any physical problem or any issue that is affecting your performance and not allowing you to perform the same way as you did in 2017?
No, no, I don’t have any physical issue. I just have to work more on my fastball and on walks, the things that have affected me the most. When I walk a batter, right after I give up a hit and then another walk and that’s when the runs start to score. Well, I’m already working on it and have already thrown an inning without giving up any walks so that’s how I’ll get better.
Q: The good thing is that the team keeps relying on you and works with you to correct these problems, so you can once again achieve good results. How do you feel with all the support that has been given to you?
I feel great. They’ve supported me a lot, although they’re not giving that many opportunities to pitch until I recover. I’m very grateful regardless.
Q: Right now, the team is not playing as well as it did last year when it finished in second place and made the playoffs. What has been the difference? What is currently happening?
I don’t believe we’re doing anything different from last year. Our current position in the standings is something that I leave to God, who’s the only one that actually knows. Nonetheless, there’s still a lot of games to be played, more than a hundred, so anything can happen. The team is ok to me. The thing is that I’m not doing so good right now and some other players are going through rough stretches too, but there’s still more than a hundred games left, and this is more than enough for us to correct our course.
Q: Well, the league is also much more competitive this year. All teams are pretty even.
That’s how it is. Last year they were already playing well but this year, all six are hitting and scoring a lot of runs. Sometimes they lose one or two games but later on they recover and start winning again. They’re all ok to me. What needs to be done now is to just wait until the end of the season to actually see who’s who.
Q: This is your 3rd year with the team already. How much longer would you like to stay here?
Well, I’ll leave that to God. It will depend on the opportunities that the team is willing to give me. You can be performing well out there but at the same time you can be released. Just see what happened to (Hanley) Ramírez who’s currently not in Boston anymore even though he’s still a great player. You never know what’s gonna happen. The same way, I don’t lose confidence that I’ll keep playing here, and if there ends up being a chance for me to be playing back in the majors, I will eventually. In the meantime, I plan to stay here until they give me an opportunity.
Translated by Fernando Zornoff