Before I talk about what I saw in Steven Matz’s Major League debut it has become extremely apparent how foolish and comical it has been to keep Matz and Noah Syndergaard in the minors in favor to keep Dillon Gee and Jonathan Niese in the rotation. If the Mets’ primary objective was winning they should’ve put Gee in the minors and Niese in the bullpen after the first month of the season. If I’m a Mets fan I’m extremely mad at the front office for allowing their loyalties to their veterans cloud their judgement (it’s also very possible the front office has no idea what they are doing in regards to the Major League roster and they’re making judgements at the hip).
Clearly I liked what I saw from Matz, but the biggest problem is the hype train is going to get out of hand because the focus is going to be what he did at the plate rather than how he pitched.
To begin the game he was clearly pressing and looked nervous. He threw three straight balls to Brandon Phillips, the leadoff hitter, then when he threw a strike right down the middle (a fastball) he tattooed for a home run. After the first inning he regained his composure. The fastball looked good; the velocity was routinely in the 93-96 mph range and he was able to sustain the velocity at the end of the game. What was most impressive about the fastball was he threw consistently inside to righties. He has two secondary pitches: curveball and changeup. Both can miss bats on both sides of the plate, but they’re average to above average offerings. At least 6-8 times the Reds real hitters (Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Todd Frazier) all took awkward swings against the secondary pitches and Matz made them look foolish.
His scouting report suggests he has really good command, but he didn’t show it for most of the day on Sunday. In the middle of the game he was only throwing strikes 55 percent of the time but as the game wore on he pounded the strike zone (and probably got more comfortable).
Last year he only threw 140 innings and I cannot see the Mets allowing him to throw more than 170-180 this year, but as I said earlier who knows what the Mets are thinking and what they’re going to do. My best guess is he throws 175 innings. After his start on Sunday he’s thrown 98 innings so he only has 77 innings left, which is about 10-14 starts left. Like any young pitcher he is going to be highly variable from start to start, but he’s going to have more good outings than bad ones.
If you’re in a league with FAAB I wouldn’t blow all my money to get him because of the inconsistency, but since he pitches in the NL East he’s going to have a lot of favorable matchups. Based on how well Matz pitched I can’t see the Mets sending him back to the minors any time soon. He should be owned in all formats because in the shallowest of leagues he’s going to be a very good streaming option very often.
