Matusz Tonight

[Il BuonO]

Great analysis. The change-up has been a huge put away pitch for him when he is on. For him to be the #2 guy we all want him to be, he has to have all of his pitches, and for one reason or another it always seems like one is missing. Recently it has been the change.

I have no doubt that if he was confident in the change and had it working, he could have easily put Escobar away and perhaps gone 7.

The good news is, he had a decent start today without throwing an effective change-up. I gotta think he can get it back, he has been pinpoint with it throughout his career, even at times this season.

Does anybody have the pitch chart for Escobar? I thought there were two pitches that could have been called strikes. I thought he blew some calls for KC's pitchers a well. The thing is, you could see Matusz mouth an expletive after the walk, either mad at himself or upset with the call.

I don't think his ceiling is as high as a two. Everyone might have to lower their expectations for Matusz.

[SerenityNow]

Brian Matusz:

4 QS in last 5 starts

0 QS in previous 15 starts

[Say O!]

Pitch f/x seems to have funky pitch identification today, but they have Matusz topping out at 94.9, and averaging 92.4 on what they are calling a cutter. He really pounded the strike zone, too, 68 strikes in 98 pitches.

Some worries about Matusz:

1. Stamina. He seems to get tired in the 6th almost every time. Today he had two outs in the 6th and had thrown only 86 pitches and I was thinking maybe he could go 7. Then he had a 9-pitch walk to Escobar before retiring the final batter on 3 pitches, and he was done for the day.

2. The big inning. He allowed 3 runs in the 3rd inning today, and that is the 5th time this year he has allowed at least 3 runs in one inning. It always seems he throws a ton of pitches in those innings, too. He threw 31 of his 98 pitches in the 3rd inning today.

3. The sudden disappearance of his change-up. He only threw it 3 times in his last start, and 5 times today. He didn't get a single swing and miss on a change today. In fact, he only had one swing and miss in 98 pitches today, despite throwing a ton of strikes. It's great that his fastball velocity is at its highest point in memory, but Matusz is a guy who needs his change-up to throw off hitters' timing.

On the other side of the ledger, he is throwing a lot of strikes and has only walked 1-2 batters in each of his last 5 starts (7 total in those five games).

Oh, and I guess Buck is happy with his TTTP. Only one stolen base off Matusz this year, and one CS.

Overall, still a mixed bag for Matusz but it beats what we were seeing last year by a country mile.

How does his FB velocity look from the stretch?

[crissfan172]

3. The sudden disappearance of his change-up. He only threw it 3 times in his last start, and 5 times today. He didn't get a single swing and miss on a change today. In fact, he only had one swing and miss in 98 pitches today, despite throwing a ton of strikes. It's great that his fastball velocity is at its highest point in memory, but Matusz is a guy who needs his change-up to throw off hitters' timing.

Well according to brooksbaseball.net (http://brooksbaseball.net/player_cards/player_card.php?player=451085), he threw his change-up 17% of the time in April and now 11% of the time in May. It appears that he's throwing his slider more instead (13% to 24%). I'd have to believe the reason for this is because he hasn't had very good command of the pitch so far this year as he's been hanging it too much, as evidenced by the 2.08% HR rate, which is the highest for any of his pitches. I agree with you, though, he needs the change-up or he won't be nearly as effective as he needs to be against righties.

Oh, and I guess Buck is happy with his TTTP. Only one stolen base off Matusz this year, and one CS.

Yeah...his TTTP has been excellent this year. He's basically doing a slide-step now instead of the Andy Pettitte-type move he was using before.

[Va Beach O's fan]

He continues to give up the big innings as has been previously mentioned, but I am quite encouraged by the rest of his outing. Based on how awful he was last year and his first 3 starts of this year, we've definitely seen a marked improvement over the last couple games.

No one pitches well against Texas, but the start in Yankee stadium, the home start against the Rays and another road start against a pissed off Kansas City team that was looking for split after a tough loss the night before are all steps in the right direction. Considering how awful he was last year, I think we all have to be pleased that his velocity is back up and his ability to go deeper into games, while not great, is again much better than it was last year and even the beginning of this year.

Keep up the improvement Brian!

[whatagame]

It seems to me his problems begin and end between his ears. He seems to doubt himself.

[TiredofLosing20]

Well according to brooksbaseball.net (http://brooksbaseball.net/player_cards/player_card.php?player=451085), he threw his change-up 17% of the time in April and now 11% of the time in May. It appears that he's throwing his slider more instead (13% to 24%). I'd have to believe the reason for this is because he hasn't had very good command of the pitch so far this year as he's been hanging it too much, as evidenced by the 2.08% HR rate, which is the highest for any of his pitches. I agree with you, though, he needs the change-up or he won't be nearly as effective as he needs to be against righties. .

A possible scenario is that he is taking a different approach to hitters who IMO had started looking for the change.

[flashjordnk]

Brian Matusz:

4 QS in last 5 starts

0 QS in previous 15 starts

Props for this stat. For everyone who wants to jump on the man's consistency, if he can keep up even a 70% QS rate, he's got plenty of value.

[backwardsk]

Brian Matusz:

4 QS in last 5 starts

0 QS in previous 15 starts

Just asking, but isn't a QS 6 ip with 3ER or less? If so, then he is 3 out of 5 and 3 for 8 on the season. The improvement is encouraging, just hoping for consistency.

[flashjordnk]

Just asking, but isn't a QS 6 ip with 3ER or less? If so, then he is 3 out of 5 and 3 for 8 on the season. The improvement is encouraging, just hoping for consistency.

Yeah this is correct. I hate quoting stats that I think are encouraging to find out they aren't true...

The 4th he only went 5 2/3 I'm guessing that was his reference. But still in 4 of his last 5 starts he's gotten into the 6th and given up 3 or less ER in 4 of them.

[Can_of_corn]

I've never understood where this comes from.

His body language isn't the best.

[backwardsk]

Yeah this is correct. I hate quoting stats that I think are encouraging to find out they aren't true...

The 4th he only went 5 2/3 I'm guessing that was his reference. But still in 4 of his last 5 starts he's gotten into the 6th and given up 3 or less ER in 4 of them.

And that's part of my hang up with him. Say what you want about Hunter, but at least he's completed 6 innings in 75% of his starts while completing 7 in three of those. Matusz just isn't efficient enough right now. But I remind myself that Bedard wasn't either before he broke out.

[Frobby]

Props for this stat. For everyone who wants to jump on the man's consistency, if he can keep up even a 70% QS rate, he's got plenty of value.

Technically, the stat is not accurate. Matusz threw 5.2 IP on May 12, allowing 2 ER. Not a quality start since he didn't go 6 IP. So, it is only 3 out of 5. In the 5 referenced games Matusz has pitched 29 innings and has a 4.03 ERA. That is very close to league-average performance -- IP/start just slightly below average, ERA slightly better than average.

[jtschrei]

Thanks for pointing that out Frobby. It's an absolute mystery to me where Matusz's changeup has gone.

Still, I see small signs of improvement. His FB was hitting 94! yesterday on MASN. His curve was effective. He only walked 1 guy. Do I think the wheels could come off the wagon at any time? Yes. Do I think he's overthrowing, which could lead to an arm injury? Yes. But, I really see alot of "want to" in Matusz right now. If you asked me at the beginning of the season if I would take league average for Matusz, I would have said "Absolutely."

If he commands his FB going forward, and if he gets his changeup back (those are big IFs, but possible), we're looking at a good pitcher.

[SerenityNow]

Technically, the stat is not accurate. Matusz threw 5.2 IP on May 12, allowing 2 ER. Not a quality start since he didn't go 6 IP. So, it is only 3 out of 5. In the 5 referenced games Matusz has pitched 29 innings and has a 4.03 ERA. That is very close to league-average performance -- IP/start just slightly below average, ERA slightly better than average.

Sorry about that folks. I saw the stat scrolling across the bottom of the screen on MLB network during the highlights of the game. I re-wound it a few times to make sure I relayed the information accurately (lol). Next time I will know to double check the info myself. Sorry again.