The first four pitchers to start a game for the Mets in Grapefruit League play this season combined for 7 IP and 0 ER. Steven Matz failed to record an out in the second inning and finished with a line of 1 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 2 BB and a K, with all of the damage coming in the second inning. He left with two runners on base and both of those came around to score. There were high hopes for Matz after he had the same surgery that Jacob deGrom did prior to the 2017 season and deGrom turned in a strong year. The hope is that Matz would do the same. What do you think of this outing?
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hope Vargas turns in Bartolo 2.0
We need to fatten Vargas up. Let’s have Bartolo give him all of his NY restaurant discount coupons.
Hard to blow one outing out of proportion… unless it’s Hansel Robles.
I would have voted for
A little worried, but its still Spring Training (delete the he’ll be fine).
The truth is Matz, like Wheeler is waaaaaaaay over hyped. Hes a back end guy in his best stretch. The thing is he has head space issues. Hes not deGrom or Harvey, or Noah. He may best be a LOOGY.
I don’t think Matz is overhyped much—if at all. In 2016, with 22 starts and relative health his ERA+ was 118 and he struck out 8.8 batters/9 innings with a decent WHIP of 1.209. The Matz Statz indicated that he’s a lefty starter with good stuff and good control. I’d give him a lot of chances to show he’s back to where he was the year before last, and maybe better than that now.
He wont have 20+ starts this year let alone 30. He simply does not have starter grit.
LOOGY? The guy is a solid to very good ML starter if he is healthy. Hard throwing lefties don’t grow on trees.
I voted “a little worried but this is ST”. Almost everything at this stage of ST is blown out of proportion, both good and bad, and given the technology and large media presence, every hang nail becomes a focus point.
The little bit of concern with Matz is that he just hasn’t pitched that much throughout his career, so the refinement of his motion and secondary pitches could be a very big question, even if he gets beyond the growth issue. He may still be in a development phase, but a win now team can’t afford to have him developing every 5 days without results, and sticking him in the pen would stunt his need for innings for further refinement.
Since there was no “I’m not worried about him because I don’t expect him to be healthy anyway” I voted for the last choice.
I would be worried but there’s enough SP depth that it doesn’t matter. Matz is in a competition for a rotation spot and this start opened the door for Wheeler, Lugo and Gsellman. If Matz doesn’t leave ST with a rotation spot then he should get other opportunities during the course of the season. Primarily he has to maintain his health and avoid injury set backs.
Last week, we learned that Dave Eiland is getting Matz to make an adjustment (raise his hand a little on the release, I think?) to have a more consistent result. It’s very possible that Matz had a good first inning and then when things went awry, he panicked and couldn’t correct it. Plus, with mound visits being counted, a pitching coach has to give more allowance to a pitcher to correct himself – that’s part of being a veteran anyway. Hence, I’m not concerned. This early, health is all that matters: to the player himself, to the team, and to the rest of us.
Can you guys imagine if Rich Hill was a Met, the way he has given up 27 runs in his last 28 spring training innings (over two springs), what we’d be reading? Met fans would be wondering if he could even be a LOOGY.
Thanks Gus – I missed that one.
“The solution almost sounds too simple. Eiland’s mantra involves reminding Matz to get his arm “out” and then “up” to have it remain in line with the rest of his delivery. That’s what spring training is for, to transform these messages into muscle memory. And now that he is starting with a clean bill of health, this adjustment could make sure he stays that way.”
https://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/steven-matz-mets-spring-training-1.16914639