October 24, 2019

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Right-hander Scott Mathieson announced his retirement from professional baseball on Wednesday.

The Aldergrove, B.C., native shared his decision in a scrum with reporters at Yomiuri Giants headquarters in Tokyo.

“This is going to be it for me. I’m going to retire after this year,” Mathieson told reporters with a translator at his side. “I’m going to keep playing for Team Canada, but professionally I’m finished now.”

Mathieson just completed his eighth season with Yomiuri Giants of the Japan Central League and he will retire as one of the best foreign pitchers in the franchise’s history and also as the most successful Canadian pitcher ever to toe the rubber in Japan. In all, in 428 appearances with the Giants, the hard-throwing Canadian right-hander posted a 2.49 ERA and struck out 501 batters in 438 innings.

“I think the biggest thing is that I don’t think I can pitch like I used to be able to,” Mathieson told the media on Wednesday

Mathieson has been hampered by a knee injury in the last two seasons and he told reporters he never felt “back to 100%” since undergoing a procedure on his knee.

“Also with my family and my kids getting bigger, I feel like I’m missing a lot of them,” said Mathieson, who resides in Cal Pasco County, Fla., just north of Tampa Bay, in the off-season.

After honing his skills with the Langley Blaze and the Canadian Junior National Team. Mathieson was selected in the 17th round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, The 6-foot-3 right-hander would rise through the club’s minor league ranks to make his major league debut on June 17, 2006. In all, he would make 15 appearances in parts of three seasons with the Phillies, but he also endured three major elbow surgeries during his tenure with the organization, before heading to Japan.

Mathieson will pitch for the Canadian National Team at the WSBC Premier12 Tournament that’s set to begin on November 2. The 12-nation event will see Canada compete in Group C in Seoul, South Korea with opening round games against Cuba, South Korea and Australia. The two top teams in the group will then advance to Japan to compete in the Super Round from November 11-16.

Two spots in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be awarded at Premier12 with one going to the highest-placed finisher from the Americas and the other to the top finisher in the Super Round/Finals from the Asia/Oceania region.

Mathieson told the Canadian Baseball Network in January 2018 that one of his final baseball goals would be to pitch for Canada at the Olympics.

“The Olympics are my ultimate goal. It would be great to finish playing for the Canadian Olympic team in Japan. That would be icing on the cake,” said Mathieson in January 2018.