Three seasons ago, Ichiro Suzuki made the successful transition from the Japanese Central League to Major League Baseball. This season, Hideki Matsui is attempting to duplicate the feat.

But it will be tough to duplicate exactly. After all, in his rookie year in 2001, Ichiro won the American League MVP and a Gold Glove. The Seattle Mariners' leadoff hitter and right fielder batted .350 and stole 56 bases as the Mariners won a record 116 games.

Matsui is playing left field and batting fifth for the surging New York Yankees, who some say might challenge Seattle's team wins mark this year. In the first month of his MLB career, the man called Godzilla is batting .267 with 2 homers and 20 RBI. In Japan, Matsui demonstrated serious hitting prowess, as evidenced by his league-leading 50 home runs, 107 RBI and .334 batting average in his last season in Japan.

	Hideki Matsui became the first Yankees player to hit a grand slam in his first home game.

For a hitter, the biggest key to dealing with any transition -- from team to team or country to country -- is staying with your mental approach and doing the things you've always done. When hitters change venues, they tend to be too aggressive, which leads to bad at-bats. But good hitters will maintain a consistent approach and hit what's pitched to them. Matsui has accomplished this so far.

Occasionally he's fooled on breaking balls, but overall he's done a good job of getting into his hitting position and taking pitches. That may be because he's playing with disciplined hitters in the Yankees lineup, and their patience in the batter's box is rubbing off. The only free swinger on the Yankees is Alfonso Soriano, and ironically he's the leadoff hitter. After Soriano, the lineup is full of disciplined hitters -- and that's without injured shortstop Derek Jeter in the lineup.

Matsui's patience was evident when he hit a grand slam against the Twins in the Yankees' home opener (the first player to do so in the Yankees' storied history). He worked the count full and sat on a changeup that he was able to drive. That's the sign of a good hitter. He did a great job of staying patient, working the count and making a good stroke on the ball -- and he was rewarded.

In the second half of the season, Matsui will be more familiar with A.L. pitchers. He'll be able to make better adjustments based on how pitchers are attacking him, and that's when he'll become Godzilla-like.

Tony Gwynn, a career .338 hitter with the Padres, is the head baseball coach at San Diego State and an ESPN analyst.