Braves 2021 Player Previews: Can Tyler Matzek Repeat His Dominance

I recently wrote about how Martin’s role can be different in this upcoming season and I feel the same way with Matzek’s role. I do not completely expect Matzek to be the new main set up man and I do not feel like anyone else should either.

It is not that Matzek cannot be trusted in this role, but simply the fact that Matzek has a possible competitor with the same assets in A.J. Minter. This is not a bad thing though. A lot of Matzek’s appearances last year were middle innings to get to the set up man, but I can see him taking a step up this upcoming season.

Matzek’s strikeout potential in late inning appearances is something that can be extremely valuable. I could definitely see Matzek being the bullpen’s clean up guy going further in late inning situations.

Now yes, Matzek played a similar role in various appearances last season, but this season there will need to be someone to depend on in the bullpen in short spurts and I believe that Matzek is that guy.

But who’s to say that he couldn’t work his way up to a set up man role? After all, for a long time, I believed that Minter would be the solution to the left handed set up man role or even the closer role, but it hasn’t worked out to this point, although there have been recent signs to it possibly working out in his appearances late last season as well as his postseason appearances.

Obviously, things are up in the air with the bullpen up to this point as no one has really been named to any one role (Spring Training has not started yet so we can’t really expect that at this point).

But Matzek may very well stay in his spot as an inning eater of sorts and be very successful with that role, but I definitely would like to see him get an opportunity to take a step up!

Regardless of what you think of Matzek and what his role may be in this upcoming season, you have to admit that it is one heck of an accomplishment for this man to go through so much difficulty in his career and manage to put things together enough to even be spoken about in this capacity. He has earned his keep and seems up to the challenge of being a great part of this Braves bullpen.

What could you see Matzek’s role being in this bullpen? Do you think he has the ability to repeat his performances he’s showed in his 2020 season?