Something still isn't right with Matusz

[Orioles0615]

We called him up too quick. He needs to spend a few weeks in Norfolk.

Agreed he needs to go to AAA. This would also prob send him a message too. The thing that really bugs me is I really thought he would take a step forward this year, but he has taken a step back.

[eddie83]

I knew he ended the season last year well but he did even better than I thought. In his last 11 starts in August and September he went 7-1 with an 2.18 era. The team went 10-1 in those starts. I think we were 34-23 with Buck so in the non-Matusz starts we were 2 games over .500. He did have some rough patches last year but he looks nothing like he can be. He acted like on his postgame interview that he thinks his stuff is getting better but I just don't see it. He admitted his fastball velocity is down and that affects him but to me if his other pitches are crisp he can get away with it a little better than he has been.

[allstar1579]

In Matusz' 4 June starts before tonight, his average 2 seam fastball was 87, his average 4 seam fastball was 87.2. In his last 10 starts of 2010, his average 2 seamer was 89.2, his average 4 seam fastball was 89.4.

In his last start his average 2 seam fastball was 87.3, and his average 4 seam fastball was 87.6. Yes, that is a drop from what he showed at the end of last year, but saying he is obviously injured is hyperbole. I think his velocity was at that level again tonight. To me his problems were more about location and pitch selection.

Not saying he is obviously injured, but I've seen plenty of pitchers tweak or injure their back and since their arm was not falling off they would try to pitch through it. The two most common indicators, couple mph off velo and location issues.

Like Tony said, to watch him right now, he's nothing like the pitcher from parts of last season in the ML or in the minors if you followed him there. It's not just poor decisions, it's raw stuff that's off, velo and movement.

[TakebackOPACY]

As someone who's said give Matusz time after his last few starts I'll now concede that it's time to start worrying.

It's obviously been time to worry... we can just hope that this is a short-term problem. My issue with the reactionary thread after the June 12 start was the hypothesis that this has been an ongoing trend, next stop 86mph.

We called him up too quick. He needs to spend a few weeks in Norfolk.

Whatever is going on with his velocity now has nothing to do with being called up too soon. This is not the same pitcher physically. When he's physically where he was most of last year, he's more than major league ready; he's a #3 or better.

In Matusz' 4 June starts before tonight, his average 2 seam fastball was 87, his average 4 seam fastball was 87.2. In his last 10 starts of 2010, his average 2 seamer was 89.2, his average 4 seam fastball was 89.4.

In his last start his average 2 seam fastball was 87.3, and his average 4 seam fastball was 87.6. Yes, that is a drop from what he showed at the end of last year, but saying he is obviously injured is hyperbole. I think his velocity was at that level again tonight. To me his problems were more about location and pitch selection.

Saying injury talk is, "hyperbole" seems a bit strong. It seems very likely to me that whatever is wrong with his velocity and whatever is wrong with his location are one and the same. Is it a serious injury? I hope not. Is it something physical that would be described as an 'injury'; nagging but manageable, or serious, or whatever? That seems pretty likely to me.

[wildcard]

A big problem is who replaces him.

Tillman, Bergy, and Berken are not ready to go into the O's rotation.

Simon is supposed to pitch an inning or two on Sunday at Bowie and then be actived if he does well. That doesn't sound like he is ready to go into the rotation.

Mitch Atkins may be the next in line for a shot at the starting staff.

That may be a reason why Buck is saying that Matusz may stay in the rotation. The replacements choices are not that good.

[section18]

I was at the game tonight. Two things that stood out to me have already been mentioned. Matusz never hit ninety while I was in my seat. Went down to buy a drink briefly and saw the 2nd Votto HR fly out on the TV above the concession stand. 89 was the hardest pitch I saw (one time) and most of his fastballs were 85-87. I believe the first Votto HR was a change or curve in the high 70's. Why? Who called that pitch? Wieters or the dugout? Wieters seemed to be looking into the dugout a lot tonight. Does that explain the 5 HR'S by the Reds? Matusz also looked like a guy who won 1st prize on a medifast diet. He has looked slimmer all season compared to last year but tonight he looked really thin. Does he need more time off or does he need to go to Norfolk? There is definitely something wrong with his loss of velocity. Send him to Hopkins to get thoroughly checked out and hope there is nothing wrong with him.

[Singleton]

I was at the game tonight. Two things that stood out to me have already been mentioned. Matusz never hit ninety while I was in my seat. Went down to buy a drink briefly and saw the 2nd Votto HR fly out on the TV above the concession stand. 89 was the hardest pitch I saw (one time) and most of his fastballs were 85-87. I believe the first Votto HR was a change or curve in the high 70's. Why? Who called that pitch? Wieters or the dugout? Wieters seemed to be looking into the dugout a lot tonight. Does that explain the 5 HR'S by the Reds? Matusz also looked like a guy who won 1st prize on a medifast diet. He has looked slimmer all season compared to last year but tonight he looked really thin. Does he need more time off or does he need to go to Norfolk? There is definitely something wrong with his loss of velocity. Send him to Hopkins to get thoroughly checked out and hope there is nothing wrong with him.

I was at the game and noted he hit 90 several times to those I was with. He obviously couldn't get Votto out. I actually thought he didn't look that bad against the rest of the lineup (shurg).

[LookitsPuck]

Matusz's issue is conditioning. I think this is a guy who was injured at the end of spring training and never got his groove. I think he worked on his stuff while rehabbing *just enough*. You saw elevated pitch counts and short outings whilst rehabbing, and instead of coming out and saying he needs to work on going deeper into games....he decided to take the short road back. Read his replies whilst rehabbing.

I think the kid needs to get his conditioning in check. I think he's healthy, but he's stuck in limbo right now. He rushed himself back (probably said the right things to get there) and now he's paying the consequences. Ideally he'd have had another 2-3 rehab starts to get himself deeper in games, but it didn't happen.

[calhof2007]

It's hard to say whether Matusz is hurt, needs more conditioning, or neither. Now just because his velocity is down does not mean his shoulder is hurt, the muscle under his left shoulder blade could still be affecting him. As a collegiate pitcher who has dealt with back injuries the past 2 years (including an injury under the shoulder blade of my throwing arm), I can tell you firsthand those injuries affected my velocity and location. They also take a while to heal. Pitchers need their shoulder blade muscles to help in the follow-through. And of course, pitchers need to follow-through to effectively locate pitches. If Matusz is truly hurt, this could explain why he is struggling with his location. While velocity is an added plus for pitchers, if one could hit their spots and keep hitters off balance, it is possible to be successful and only throw in the mid to upper 80's. As a fan, I am more concerned about Matusz's lack of command. Once he regains his command, you should notice an increase in velocity.

[Flosman]

It's hard to say whether Matusz is hurt, needs more conditioning, or neither. Now just because his velocity is down does not mean his shoulder is hurt, the muscle under his left shoulder blade could still be affecting him. As a collegiate pitcher who has dealt with back injuries the past 2 years (including an injury under the shoulder blade of my throwing arm), I can tell you firsthand those injuries affected my velocity and location. They also take a while to heal. Pitchers need their shoulder blade muscles to help in the follow-through. And of course, pitchers need to follow-through to effectively locate pitches. If Matusz is truly hurt, this could explain why he is struggling with his location. While velocity is an added plus for pitchers, if one could hit their spots and keep hitters off balance, it is possible to be successful and only throw in the mid to upper 80's. As a fan, I am more concerned about Matusz's lack of command. Once he regains his command, you should notice an increase in velocity.

Well I was in the camp of "he can be successful without the 2-4 MPH on his fastball". However Flanny's comments during the game have changed my mind. Flanny seemed to think the problem was the split between both of his FBs and his off speed stuff. He actually noted a couple changes that were pretty good but were hit. 82 MPH changes don't work when your pitching off of a 86 MPH 2 seamer. I think he has to have the velocity back to be a successful ML starter.

BTW who the heck made the decision to pitch to Votto with 1b open. I told my wife on the first pitch that Votto was going to hit a bomb. Palmer is right about one thing don't let their best guy beat you. The outcome is on Buck IMO.

[allquixotic]

Maybe they can hook him up with a knuckleballer pitching coach in AAA for a few weeks and teach him how to pitch a 7-inning ballgame with arm strength barely reaching 80 mph at the top end. Wakefield is still an effective reliever and spot starter for Boston. I'd love to see Wieters try to catch a knuckleball from a guy who has a history of poor command. :laughlol:

Gotta try and be creative when you don't have many other options. How about a gyro ball?

[Gurgi]

This year is likely almost done with for him. He has nothing.

[Roll Tide]

Hopefully he is just continuing to build his arm strength and get the feel of pitching back. Even though he is struggling I wouldn't want him back on the DL.

I'm not concerned about Matusz long-term... but he definitely doesn't look like the same pitcher we've seen.

As I said previously ...Relax Fellas....His velocity was close to normal early. It dropped as he tired .... Give him 2-3 more starts and then worry!

[awalt]

I wonder if the Os have looked closely at his delivery on film compared to last year. Pitching is a highly technical action and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he has inadvertently introduced some minor changes in release point, arm angle, balance, stride, stride direction, body rotation, or any of a number of things. It happens all the time to healthy pitchers, a guy who tries to pitch while discovering he is hurt (in ST) then is recovering could easily have something different. Technical problems can easily take 3-5 MPH off of a fastball, and it can surely affect location a ton.

That said, I am also in the camp that says he needs his strength/conditioning built up too.

PS - to the poster mentioning the first Votto HR was a bad pitch call (who was at the ballpark), that change-up was supposed to be low out of the strike zone. MASN showed Wieter's mitt from the side so it was really obvious how much he had to move it up for where he would have caught it if Votto hadn't pummeled it out of the park.

[Roll Tide]

2010 Last 10 Starts:

Aug 4th 2010

33 4 seam fastballs, 89.2 mph

20 2 seam fastballs, 89.2 mph

Aug 9th 2010

41 4 seam fastballs, 89 mph

13 2 seam fastballs, 88.9 mph

Aug 14th 2010

35 4 seam fastballs, 89.2 mph

11 2 seam fastballs, 88.7 mph

Aug 19th 2010

40 4 seam fastballs, 89.6 mph

17 2 seasm fastballs, 89.6 mph

Aug 25th Not Shown

Aug 31st 2010

48 4 seam fastballs, 89 mph

16 2 seam fastballs, 88.6 mph

Sept 6th 2010

59 4 seam fastballs, 88.4 mph

7 2 seam fastballs, 88 mph

Sept 13th 2010

7 4 seam fastballs, 89.7 mph

8 2 seam fastballs, 89.5 mph

Sept 20th 2010

50 4 seam fastballs, 90.2 mph

7 2 seam fastballs, 90 mph

Sept 27th, 2010

39 4 seam fastballs, 89.9 mph

14 2 seam fastballs, 90.1 mph

Oct 2nd, 2010

42 4 seam fastballs, 89.8 mph

15 2 seam fastballs, 89.5 mph

2011 Starts:

June 1st:

38 4 seam fastballs, avg 87mph

5 2 seam fastballs, avg 86.9 mph

June 6th:

21 4 seam fastballs, avg 86.7 mph

2 2 seam fastballs, avg 87.1 mph

June 12th:

20 4 seam fastballs, 86.9 mph

2 2 seam fastballs, 86.6 mph

June 18th:

50 4 seam fastballs, 87.6 mph

6 2 seam fastballs, 87.3 mph

June 25th:

32 4 seam fastballs, 87.6 mph

1 2 seam fastballs, 86.6 mph

Chris ....His pitch speed was up early unlike his last start. Do you think the drastic drop from the 1st to the fifth was mechanical or endurance?