University of Hawaii Centerfielder Matthew Miura is one of NCAA’s most efficient and electric batters around! With the MLB Draft looming, Miura joins PLive’s Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay) for an interview touching on his Hawaiian roots and how the game may be different on the island, the specialized training he and his father innovated to build his skills, key highlights, and a getting to know the man behind the scenes personally, too!
Be sure to follow Matt on Twitter @matt_miura and Instagram @matthewmiura as well!
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Video by Drew Wheeler
Twitter: @drewisokay
Everybody, welcome back to Prospects Live. It is, of course, your host, your friend, your boy, Drew Wheeler. And with me today for today’s interview, a very exciting player, not only in the college game, but hopefully soon coming to a pro team near you. It is the University of Hawaii center fielder, Matthew Mura. Matthew, it’s so great to have you with us, man. How are you? I’m doing good. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you so much for having me on. Absolutely, man. Yeah, it’s my pleasure. Like I was telling you before we jumped on, man, it’s my pleasure to have you. We’re so lucky that you could take the time to be with us. Don’t know if you’ve seen any of the interviews that we’ve done, but I really like to break us into our conversation with a couple of easy questions. So if you’re okay with it, I got some softball questions for you. All right. What’s your most used emoji and why? uh I think my most used emoji would be the smiling face with the with the blushing I don’t know okay I send it a lot I send it to a lot of people to get to make me seem friendly and get to know them a little better I like that that’s a good answer that’s a good answer uh okay I got you another one uh what is your all-time favorite walk-up song you’ve ever used ever used I I do my song for this past summer and this season was you don’t love me by don penn uh I think honestly I think I’m gonna stick with it even for this summer ball but it’s kind of something relaxing kind of gets me in the right headspace to go hit so I think I’m gonna use that one from now on who’d you say that that was by I gotta look that up it was you don’t love me by don penn Check it out. All right. Well, let’s get something a little more complex. I’m ready to hear a little bit more about Matt. What’s your very first memories that you can remember, of course, of baseball? I want to say it’s playing T-ball. T-ball in Oahu growing up. I guess more so more after the game. I think when I was younger. I didn’t really look forward to as much as playing baseball as to what I’d be doing after the game, fooling around, eating a potluck with my friends, go eating. So I think that’s where I really found the love of baseball, was just hanging out with my friends and enjoying being at the yard. That’s awesome, man. I love that. Good memories from being a kid. Who was your first baseball hero or your first favorite player? I’m a Red Sox fan, so I really like David Ortiz or Dustin Pedroia. He used to play baseball in the younger days. I like how Pedroia carried himself, how he always played the game hard. And I just love Poppy because he just, I mean. Hard not to like Big Poppy. Hard not to like, yeah, exactly. He’s the man. So I did a little digging today. Shouldn’t surprise you. I’m a good journalist. I’m trying to do some digging, and I read about a lot, read a lot. about an ILH game where you stole home. Do you remember anything about this game specifically? I think it was our senior night, actually, at one of the feuds in Oahu. Yes. It was a lefty on the mound. He was in the windup. He kind of took a long time to get to the plate. And then our third base coach at the time, Justin Patasha, he played at Kansas, actually. He was just on the spot out of nowhere. He was like, you know what? You’re going to go steal home on this pitch. Right when he takes his foot off, just go break for the play and just run as fast as you can. He kind of sailed the ball up and away, and I kind of got my foot in there, so it kind of all worked out. That’s perfect. What a cool story. I love that. Obviously, you know, you got the guy telling you, hey, man, take this advantage. He lifts that foot to go. You just ball out. I love that. That was a cool story. I’m glad you remember that. So – I can’t think of too much more of a different place to grow up from Tennessee than Hawaii. You’ve grown up in Hawaii. You’re playing for the University of Hawaii. A lot of experience playing baseball in Hawaii. And I’m curious, what is it about baseball in Hawaii, the experience that makes it special or different compared to the mainland? Are there certain parts of like island culture that show up, whether it’s in the game or how you and your teammates support one another or approach the game? I think in Hawaii, well, it’s a small island, obviously, so everybody kind of knows each other. We all play travel ball together, so we all kind of know each other. And that kind of – I don’t want to say it makes us play harder, but since we all know each other, we kind of just – It’s almost like we just want to beat each other that much more that we’re all on the island. We’re trying to see who’s tougher almost, trying to see which school is tougher, I guess. I guess you could say that’s one of the trademarks of Hawaii baseball, to see who’s tougher. So we kind of go out there in our ILH games, and we kind of just try to see who’s tougher. We just give everything we got, and that’s kind of how I’d explain Hawaii baseball, see who’s tougher. I like that. That’s a good answer. I’m curious. I read a little bit about how your recruitment process. You were recruited to Hawaii as a walk-on player, if I understand correctly. I was a… What was that experience like? Tell me more about that. So… I didn’t do it. We had COVID throughout my high school, so I didn’t really have too much, too much travel. And I also didn’t play summer, summer baseball in the mainland. So I was actually playing this little scrimmage at all of my baseball. It’s one of these local parks in Hawaii. And it was a random Sunday. We just do our scrimmages just with us. And just so happened, Coach Richo, the head coach of University of Hawaii, was there. And I hit it inside the park home run. It was just a random, we’re just playing baseball out there. And I hit it inside the park home run. He was there. And he said, hey, I want you to come on a visit to UH. I think you might be a good fit there. And I took the visit. He gave me a preferred walk on. And then from there, the rest is kind of history. I kind of, yeah. I love that. Inside the park, home run, got you the preferred walk-on, and it all led to here. It was a five-hundred-foot fence. It’s not that crazy. I fit it out to a good spot, and then everything worked out. Five-hundred-foot fence. Oh, that’s so good. So your guys that are out there, you’re just playing with your buddies, and whoever’s out there in the outfield, you’re just suffering them out there trying to chase down this ball, right? It’s literally like a sound loud almost, what we used to do. So it’s with the Nomuras. I don’t know. One of them played at Arkansas, but they really helped me out a lot. Just a random scrimmage. They talked to the coaches for me, and then I guess it all happened. Great. Let’s talk a little bit more about your time at UH, man. What’s something that your teammates at UH either roast you for or they might roast you for, but you totally own it. It’s all you. I think it would be, as bad as this would be, my relationship with my head coach. We have a lot of back and forth. It’s all in love. I love him so much, and I’m sure he loves me too, but we butt heads a lot. A lot of times we like to do what we think is right, and we both love each other, but we get into a lot of arguments, and right after the arguments happen, I’m in the locker room, and my teammates will probably never let me hear the end of it. That’s what they’re good for. That’s what a good teammate’s for, rubbing it in. Baseball in general, it feels like such a big deal at UH. Just from the videos I’ve watched and getting to know the culture, there’s always energy in the stands. And I’ve heard a lot about how your family is often there, a lot of your family at the same time. All they’re supporting you. You mentioned a minute ago, you grow up with these guys, you’re playing with them, you know each other. What’s it like to play in front of such a big community and a family atmosphere, all of your loved ones? And then that family centered culture of Hawaii, does that impact how you play? Does it make you play harder knowing that your loved ones are there? Definitely. I really do think it makes me feel like every time I get on the field, I feel like I empty the tank. Even if I go for four or for five, at the end of the day, I feel like I empty the tank every time I play. And especially at home, there’s a big H on the field. People are waving their Hawaiian flags in the stands, even if we’re losing. So I got to do it for my home. Everything I grew up with, being a local dude from there, it’s… It’s something special and it’s something really that I’m really grateful for. And I play my heart out every time I’m in front of them. I will say that. I love that. That’s really cool. I love how much family and playing for your loved ones means to you. That’s very cool. Let’s kind of kick it a different way here. What’s the furthest road trip that you guys for UH have taken this year? And what was it like for that travel, that bit of like that long travel? This year I’d say is probably Cal Poly. I know it’s not that far. We’ve had longer trips in the past, but I mean, I guess the one thing that we could say is it’s cold. It’s never cold in Hawaii. It’s always degrees and sunny. So that would probably be the farthest would be in a conference to Cal Poly, but it’s a good experience. I mean, we love going on the road. We love hanging out in the hotel after, so. Going on the road is one of our best times because I guess I’m born and raised on Hawaii, so the only time I get away from Hawaii is either on the road or on summer balls, so I’m really grateful. Yeah, definitely. What’s it like playing in cold weather? Like you said, Hawaii, it’s pretty much sunny on the worst day. What’s it like playing in cold weather? Your hands freeze a little bit at first, but if you wear a long sleeve, You put a glove on or something and you get some hand warmers, you’d be okay. Once you start running around, you just start shooting. That’s so funny. I love that. Good answer. Good answer. Matt, this season, you had a really awesome hit. I’m curious if you know which one I’m going to ask about because I’ve got one in mind that really sold me on you being a stunt. I’m not going to make you do that, but it was the Apo Taco against UC Santa Barbara in the Mountain West tournament. Insanity. What was going through your mind during that at-bat? I think I was going to face Flora again for a third or fourth time, and then when I was walking up to the plate, I think they went to the bullpen to bring in a lefty, Um, our head, our hitting coach, Coach Dave, whenever we face a lefty, it’s a different angle. So he really wants us to try and put the ball in line in the air to the right center gap against the lefty. So I try to swing it. I mean, first pitch was fastball away. And I kind of was like, I was already ready. I was trying to go that way already. So Kind of just was in a swing mode of any fastball, anything on the outer side of the plate, and I tried to just hit it as hard as I can. Kind of got over, so. Kind of got over. That was a good shot. Give yourself some credit, Matt. That was a good shot. Thank you. You’re welcome, buddy. You’re welcome. So to go from being a guy playing with your friends in a park, inside the park home run, to now a preferred walk-on, to now a junior who’s excelled with such amazing stats, and now you’re getting MLB draft hype as a draft prospect. It’s a huge step, but such an interesting and a very long, cool journey. I’m curious, how do you feel when you think about that journey from, again, playing in that park with your buddies, the five hundred foot fence back and that inside the park home run to now knowing that, you know, a couple of weeks you could get a call from an MLB team? yeah as as weird as it sounds I’ve been talking to my guys and like as I look as much as I love the journey it’s very stressful knowing like a lot of it’s not in your control as much as you’d like it to be so as stressful as it is I try to enjoy my time with with my friends off the field as as time like like now I’m at my one of my summer ball friends houses we’re just hanging out cruising I think that That really helps it. A lot of the time I’m thinking about baseball, I’m thinking about what could happen and all the negatives that could happen in my future. So as much as I work hard and try to make all my dreams come true, I think these times, as much as I can’t take it for granted, I really love hanging out, just getting to know people. building relationships with people from all across the states. I think that’s part of the journey that I really – when it’s all said and done, I think that’s the part that I’m going to miss and love the most, all the people that I’ve grown to meet. Absolutely, man. That’s a great answer. If you don’t mind, Matt, I need to geek out about some stats with you, if that’s okay. Sure. So you said just a minute ago, even on your worst day, if you go over four, over five – I’m not sure that ever happens. You have an immaculate hit tool. And I think if I could pick a tool that’s better, it might be your plate discipline, which those go hand in hand a lot of the time. But just for the people at home, indulge me. I’m going to talk about some stats if that’s okay. Last season, for you guys, if you don’t know, Matt stole fifteen bases. He hit four triples, and he was error-free in center field on one hundred and sixteen chances in center. That’s insane. This season, Matt, you have increased your on-base percentage by twenty-seven points. You’ve increased your slugging by fifty points. and you’re walking more and striking out less. Already this is impressive, but today I got some especially good data. I read today that no hitter in the country has a better combination of chase rate and end zone whiff rates than you. Essentially, if you’re watching at home, what that means is Matt makes great swing decisions, and then when he does swing, he almost always makes contact with the ball. My mind is blown. I think, I think a big part of, or pretty much all the part of it is me and my dad. So me and my dad, whenever I, he could be just done from working three carpet jobs and teaching. And if I asked him, let’s go here to the park, he’ll drop whatever he’s doing. And he’ll, he’ll come here with the park. But what, what we kind of do is, We have these small golf balls. They’re like, they’re wiffle balls. They’re wiffle, wiffle ball size golf balls. And he’ll just throw me buckets, bucket after bucket. And I’ll use a, I’ll take turns going in between one of the skinny PVC pipes and my regular with that. And he’ll throw me these small golf balls, like BP. He’ll be about, twenty twenty five feet away and who just will just go bucket after bucket till it gets dark sometimes. And I really think that helped my hand eye coordination growing up a lot. I really do think that’s a big part of it. I think so. That’s amazing. I love that you and your dad almost kind of customize this hitting technique by by practice. You’re using smaller balls and like you said, a smaller surface. I mean, the barrel of a small PVC pipe is hardly anything. And That’s amazing. And that plays right into my next question, buddy. I was going to ask, as a kid, how do you do it? But now at UH, with much more advanced ways of training and experience, you said Coach Hill, you talked about your hitting coaches. How do you, at this point in your career, how do you refine or practice this amazing plate discipline in this context that you have? Really, I pay a lot of credit to it as to my summer balls and my seasons. I think there’s no substitute for live at-bats and live reps in a game. I think I didn’t get to play – I think I mentioned before I didn’t get to play summer ball in high school, so I didn’t get to go put myself on the mainland and let myself get seen. So I really thought that in high school – obviously season is the most important thing and you want to play your best in season, but – I think I took a really big initiative and really big part of me to not let any at-bats go to waste in summer ball and really practice on things that don’t go well in summer ball and really try to get those things better. And I will say that every at-bat I’ve had, obviously some go to waste, but in my mind, I truly believe that every at-bat I’ve ever taken, I’ve given my best effort. That’s wonderful. That is amazing. So, Matthew, one of my favorite things to do when I’m getting to interview a player is I like to do some quick hitters, this or that. I’m going to give you a couple things. You tell me what you prefer. Does that sound good? Sounds good. Cool. All right. Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry? Chocolate. Okay. Why chocolate? Vanilla’s too plain, and I’m low-key allergic to strawberries. Oh, allergic to strawberry. Okay, that’s cool. Chocolate’s a good choice. No shade there. All right, for your pregame music, hype or chill? A little bit of both, actually. I like to… I like to listen to reggae music. I’ll probably listen to that before, like a little bit. We’re in the lock, so at UH, we have our locker room. We kind of just decide over who takes the aux. And most of the time, I’m a little older, so I kind of just grab the aux cord, whatever I like. So I’ll play some reggae to start it off. And then once we get close to the game, I like to play a lot of NBA Youngboy or Biggie Small. Okay. Mix it up a little bit. Okay. Pump up the energy a little bit. I like that. I like that. All right. I got one for you. Star Wars or Harry Potter? Harry Potter. Harry Potter. My sister is actually really, she loves all the Harry Potter movies in the book, so she always has it on around the house. So just being around it, I’ve just been forced to watch it almost. Forced to watch it is great. Forced to watch it. okay playstation or xbox or nintendo I’ll say playstation I don’t I don’t play too much games anymore that I’m so caught up in baseball but when I was in high school and middle school I swear I’d be looking right after school or right after practice I’d be straight on the playstation my friends what’d you play I played uh A lot of Madden. A lot of MLB The Show. Some Rainbow Six. Just a lot of games with my friends. Mix it up. All right. That’s cool. That’s cool. All right, man. Got to know. Shave Ice or Malasadas? Which one’s better? That’s a tough one. I know. I know. How do you know these? That’s some secret Hawaii snacks. Bro, I do my research, man. I like Malasadas as much. I’m actually sponsored by a – or not sponsored by, but I work with a shave ice company that kind of helps me out. But as much as I love shave ice, you can’t go wrong with a Malasada. Never. Okay. Let’s say that I was to come visit you on Oahu. If you were like, all right, Drew, this is the Malasada. You got to get it. What would you suggest to me? We’re going to go to Leonard’s Malasadas. There’s a couple locations. There’s a main one on Kapahulu. They have – Everything from poi malasadas to cream-filled malasadas, and I could eat that for dinner. I love it. Sounds good. All right, a couple more of these. Netflix or Hulu? I don’t have either, actually, but I think I’d go with Netflix. Okay, okay. All right, of this year’s bows, who’s the best hype man on the team and why? Best hype man. We got to shout him out. I’m going to give a shout-out to Kamana Nahaku, one of my outfielders. He plays left for me. Every time we’re in the locker room or we’re just hanging out, not on the baseball field, even if we’re about to get ready for practice, he brings energy. He’s always the same dude. He’s in a good mood all the time. We give each other shit all the time. He’s a good dude. He’s really fun to be around. Love to hear that. Let’s see. Would you rather have classic cleats or flashy cleats? Classic cleats. I either like all white or all black. Nice. I feel like those have the most drip, though. The all white cleats is insanely clean. I can’t. As much as I don’t like wearing, the only time I’ll wear black cleats is if it’s all black. Other than that, it’s got to be white cleats. I’m with you. All right, man. McDonald’s Big Mac or Taco Bell Crunchwrap? Taco Bell Crunchwrap, a hundred percent. My man knows what’s up. All right, here you go. Would you rather hit a leadoff double or make an eighth inning dive and catch? Leadoff double, a hundred percent. Sets the tone right away. Let’s the other team know that you’re not here to mess around. We’re here to win a ballgame. Leadoff double. Heck yeah. I like that. Matt, what year were you born, man? I was born in two thousand three. So I’m twenty one. OK, if you haven’t seen either of these movies, I understand. I’m an old man, so you have to forgive me. Fifty first dates or forgetting Sarah Marshall. Fifty first dates. Hundred percent. My man. All right. That’s what’s up. All right, bud. Couple more of these. What’s the go to postgame plate for you most days? Zippy’s Chili or Rainbow’s Locomoco? Zippy’s. It’s the only one open that late. I go there. I kind of go to Zippy’s almost every postgame. It must be like eleven thirty. We play at night. So Zippy’s. That’s a good one. That’s what’s up. That’s what’s up. All right. Chickens on campus. Do you ignore them or do you chase them off? I ignore them. I see them all. I see them at this point. So I kind of just ignore them. They’re just there. They’re just living. They’re just living. Just living. All right, I did set up something kind of special for you. I’ve got a couple of Hawaii baseball legends. I’m going to give you some this or that. Who do you prefer, okay? Scott Feldman or Kirby Yates? Kirby Yates. Sid Fernandez or Jordan Yamamoto? Jordan Yamamoto. I actually – his dad coached me at middle school and high school. Awesome. Cool. Also, Jordan came out, actually, a couple of times. I remember that. Shout out, Jordan. All right. Maui Auna or Waiiwa Aloy? I don’t know any of that, but he’s doing some crazy things right now. You know, Iona, he played for Kansas State and then transferred to my Tennessee Vols. So I like him. I always got to go with Maui, but Viva is nuts, and obviously Arkansas and Tennessee. I won’t go there. I’m not going to go there right now. I’ve stopped crying. I’ve let it go, so I won’t get into it again. Colton Wong or Isaiah Kiner-Falefa? That’s a good one. Colton Wong played at UA. I figured you’d say Colton Wong. You and he are in a very exclusive club of doubles and stolen bases. We’ll get into that, though. All right, final one of those, Shane Victorino or Kurt Suzuki? Shane Victorino, a hundred percent. I used to watch him grow up. My favorite Hawaiian baseball player until today. Matt Mura, probably my favorite Hawaiian baseball player. Maybe the most important question I’m going to ask you all day, Matt. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no? Yes. I actually haven’t tried pineapple on pizza until I was in college. Really? And it wasn’t even in Hawaii. It was one of our post-game meals somewhere, and I ate, and it was actually really good. The best pizza. Either pepperoni or bacon, whichever one you prefer. I like bacon. Bacon, pineapple, and jalapenos. It’s insane. That’s it? I’ve got to try it. It’s amazing, dude. It’s amazing. All right, so let’s say that you could give a piece of advice to young players who want to be where you’re at right now. They want to be playing for their state’s main college. They want to be having MLB teams looking at them to draft them. What advice would you give those kids that are looking at you and looking up to you? I really believe that no matter what’s going on and how you’re playing and what your results are, I think if you set a plan of how you decide whatever you consider working hard and what you need to do to get better, no matter what happens in your results or no matter what happens off the field, I really believe that you just got to follow your plan every day, no matter how you’re feeling. It takes a lot of discipline, but if you have discipline throughout your plan and throughout your goals, I think… everything will turn out okay. I love it. Final question I got for you, Matt. If you could leave anybody that watches this interview, whether it’s MLB teams, organization guys, fans of a team that hopefully see you and they’re like, I want to know more about Matt Miro. If you could give them one sentence to remember you by that’ll stick with them anytime they think of you, what would that sentence be? Don’t be a muffin. Like, my lifting coach says that to me all the time while I’m lifting. But it kind of basically means, like, don’t be soft. Like, no matter what happens, don’t just bulldog your way through it and be tough. Be mentally strong. Don’t be a muffin. Don’t be weak about it, no matter what happens. I like that. Don’t be a muffin. Well, from this conversation with Matt, I can tell you a couple things. Number one, guy knows his food. Matt’s got great food opinions. Number two, he is an incredible outfielder, and I’m looking forward to seeing how his career progresses at the next level. And number three, Matt Mira, he ain’t no muffin. Don’t even start to think it. He is not a muffin. Matt, will you tell the people at home where they can find you on social media, sir? Sorry, kind of cut out there. Oh, I’m sorry. Could you tell people at home where they can find you on social media? My Instagram is at Matthew Mira, and my Twitter is Matt underscore Mira. I just have those two. Perfect. Yeah, look him up. Follow this guy. He is an incredible player, and it was such a pleasure to get to talk to you, Matt. Until next time, from Prospects Live, this is Drew with Matt Mira saying so long, and thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it.
