Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.) played 60 games for the Chunichi Dragons of the NPB’s Central League in 1993.

December 16, 2022

By Evan Christie

Canadian Baseball Network

In 1993, it looked like Matt Stairs’ career had hit a brick wall.

Despite being a decent player for the triple-A Ottawa Lynx, the 25-year-old third baseman and corner outfielder from Fredericton, N.B. had been unable to crack the Montreal Expos roster full-time.

This was probably the best era in Expos history, and the three positions that Stairs liked to occupy were all filled with talent. At third base was Sean Berry, who despite being below average defensively, was a decent bat. In left field was all-star Moises Alou, who’s dad Felipe managed the team, and Hall of Famer Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) roamed right.

First base was chock full too, and while Stairs was a better hitter than Greg Colbrunn, Frank Bolick and Oreste Marrero, the sheer amount of guys they had at the position basically meant they didn’t have space to give him a shot there.

He seemed lost, and like many young men do when they feel lost, he decided to travel the world.

Well, his was less of a vacation and more of a job. The Chunichi Dragons purchased his contract from the Expos and Stairs would have to spend the back half of the season playing in Nagoya. As most Japanese teams are wanting to do, the Dragons chucked Stairs into the fire. On June 15, in his first game in Dragon Blue, he was batting fifth in the order against the Yokohama BayStars. He went hitless in four at-bats.

While his signing today would probably be met with comments like “50 Homer Season incoming” or “Dudes’ gonna be Barry Bonds there,” like most people, Stairs was not Barry Bonds. That isn’t to say he was bad.

Roaming right field at Nagoya Stadium, Stairs was a below average defender, putting up -1.6 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) but for the position that can be forgiven. His hitting wasn’t quite up to snuff either, putting up a slightly below average 93 wRC+. The most problematic part of his game was his .289 on-base percentage. Whether that’s his own fault or he was a victim of the infamous “Gaijin Zone” is known only to those who watched those games.

What Stairs did take the opportunity to do was learn. He had the benefit of still being young, so he tried his best to learn from those around him to get better. At the time the Dragons had a veteran star named Hiromitsu Ochiai. For those unfamiliar, he is one of the greatest pure hitters in the history of NPB. He’s the only man in the league’s history to win three batting triple crowns, doing so in 1982, 1985 and 1986.

Stairs understood the resource he had at his disposal and spent a lot of time watching Ochiai take batting practice, and even adopted his high leg kick in order to fix the issues he had with timing. Ochiai for his part, praised Stairs saying in so many words, “While he may not be that good at the moment, he has the potential to be a good major-league hitter.”

Stairs also spoke highly of many of his Dragons teammates, in particular their 22-year-old ace Shinji Imanaka. Imanaka was in the midst of his best season ever at the time, where he’d finish with an ERA of 2.20, a FIP of 2.78, 247 strikeouts and 7.3 WAR.

While his time with Chunichi was short, what it did do was give him his first taste of playing major-pro ball every day, something he’d been unable to do in Montreal. It helped him build the confidence he needed to make it. While he would return to the minors in 1994, it’s not crazy to think that at least some small part of his breakout 1996 season can be credited to his time in Nagoya.