Atlanta Braves are getting some relief from an unexpected source

Right Place, Right Time?

There are ‘official’ games and also ‘unofficial’ games played each Spring. We have stats for the official ones; not those taking place on the minor league fields.

Thus we don’t know how he’s done in any B-side contests.  What we do know is what’s happened since.

Every now and then, players get moved up from the minor league side that we didn’t expect to see. Matzek may be one of those this year… or he may simply have been added as one of these ‘extra arms’ – pulled from the minor league camp to fill a ‘just in case’ hole.

Regardless… he’s taking advantage of the opportunity and has almost certainly earned a longer look on the ‘A’ side.

A week ago – February 24th, Matzek was on the road squad that took on the Blue Jays. He ended up being the guy who bailed out Ian Anderson’s forgettable appearance in the third inning and then continuing to complete the entire 4th inning. 4 outs, 1 strikeout, 1 hit, no walks.

Yesterday, he was the second pitcher in line as Mike Foltynewicz reached the end of his pitch limit ahead of schedule. This stint lasted 5 outs… and 4 of those came via the strikeout.

Oh… no hits and no walks allowed in the process against a fairly substantial portion of the Red Sox regular lineup. That’s a good way to get noticed.

The idea that Tyler Matzek could make the team is still quite far-fetched. He’s 29 years old now, and while he’s definitely been through the battles over the past decade, he’s also got an awful lot of history being awful that has to be overcome.

Once More, With Feeling

Like any ballplayer though, Matzek wants a chance… and truly, this could be his last hurrah.

Matzek is (or at least used to be) basically a fastball/slider guy with a hard changeup mixed in occasionally.

The fastball probably clocks in around 91-92 mph these days (it was never more than about 94) and the changeup (89-ish) needs to be a bit slower to be more of a weapon. The slider is his strikeout pitch and his fastball gets hitters to ground out a lot.

The secret to any of this is just having the command of these pitches. Absent that, the rest doesn’t matter.

Barring something dramatic – and dramatic doesn’t mean “good” – Matzek won’t make the team, but should have a shot with Gwinnett this Spring. If he can sustain what he’s started this past week, then he might have a shot in the call-up replacement wheel.

I say ‘might’ because he’s still going to have to overcome that pesky 40-man roster problem. This will be all the worse if Atlanta does have to make accommodations for others like Felix Hernandez or Charlie Culberson.

Still… we like stories like this and here’s hoping that Matzek has figured out something. If nothing else, he’s clearly giving it one more good go.  We’re rooting for him.