Impressions of Brian Matusz

[TravisMoon]

Here's to wishing Matusz a bright future ahead. :clap3:

Ditto!! I think he'll need a good nickname too.

The Preying Matusz! :wedge:

TM

[Malike]

I want to start by saying I think he's gonna be the real deal. I'd also like to ask why everyone is saying his command was there tonight. He walked three batters, and got himself into 100 pitches in the 5th inning. He wasn't pounding the strike zone all night long, he was in fact nibbling at times. He had quite a few 3-2 counts tonight.

[The Rick]

Night's like these are what makes it all worth it. It's what makes these last 12 years worth it. It's what makes seeing these Red Sox & Yankees fans fill up OPACY worth it. It's a great time to be an Orioles fan. Very impressed with Matusz & Tillman, not to mention Bergesen, Reimold, Wieters & Hernandez.

There's no other team i'd rather root for than the Baltimore Orioles, through thick and thin.

[aliafour]

The real question is, will Arrieta follow along and take #53, so our big three can be in numerical order.

Matusz looked as good as I could have hoped for.

[ShaneDawg85]

He was following the old Ray Miller montra of working fast and throwing strikes. He had a great mix of fastball and change-up, and when he threw the curve ball it made hitters look stupid. Fastball topped out around 93, if you belive the radar gun, and he was consistently hitting 80-81 on the change. Had poise on the hill and didn't seem to get rattled when guys got on base. Walks are going to happen in the first few starts, the key is for him to learn from it, make adjustments, and keep it from continuing. He was getting squeezed a couple of times with the strike zone which elevated his pitch count a little. As with Tillman, the coaches let him go out and pitch when he got in trouble and didn't seem to be too cautious with the pitch count, as both threw 90+ pitches in their debuts.

The pitches are there, although I would have like to have seen the curve a little bit more. What impressed me the most was the little things. It's the same as Bergesen. He's got control, precision, and pin point accuracy with his pitches, and simply put, he looks like a major league pitcher on the hill. May not show up in his stuff or results, but he's got the look and he looks like he's in control of his environment. After years of watching guys like Daniel Cabrera, Garrett Olson, Brian Burress, Sidney Ponson, etc., chucking on the hill, looking scared, and nibbling with no confidence, I can't tell you how great this is to see.

One start does not a season or career make, but you can count me as being very impressed with Brian Matusz.

[Mad Mark]

The real question is, will Arrieta follow along and take #53, so our big three can be in numerical order.

Matusz looked as good as I could have hoped for.

No disrespect to the Brim Reaper, but I think some Sherrill t-shirts had their names taped over after tonight's game. If George was watching, I hope he was proud of the inheritor of his old Orioles number. This game was a joy to watch. It'll be interesting to watch Matusz grow and mature over the years. (Have to say he pitches in a mature way already!)

[RShack]

The curve was slightly above average, but looked like it could be better than that.

IIRC, in ST everybody was making a big fuss about how good his curve was. When he got a start, DT watched for a while, said he was gonna fall in love with using the curve too much, so after an inning or two he told him he couldn't use it anymore. I thought part of the agenda they set for him in the MiL's was to not rely on his curveball. Am I misremembering this?

[The Rick]

IIRC, in ST everybody was making a big fuss about how good his curve was. When he got a start, DT watched for a while, said he was gonna fall in love with using the curve too much, so after an inning or two he told him he couldn't use it anymore. I thought part of the agenda they set for him in the MiL's was to not rely on the curveball. Am I misremembering this?

No, you're not misremembering at all. In fact, many attributed his slow start in Frederick early this year to this very thing.

I think the issue with the Curve/Breaking Pitches in the bigs is the difference in the baseball. At least that's been the story with Hernandez.

[McLovin]

IIRC, in ST everybody was making a big fuss about how good his curve was. When he got a start, DT watched for a while, said he was gonna fall in love with using the curve too much, so after an inning or two he told him he couldn't use it anymore. I thought part of the agenda they set for him in the MiL's was to not rely on his curveball. Am I misremembering this?

Sort of. It kind of also became an urban legend in that people started to say "he's not allowed to use his offspeed stuff in the minors." They did it for that spring training start, and later just emphasized the concept of pitching off his fastball and bettering his fastball command. At least that's what I've gleaned from Adam, Mike, and others.

[jets4ever]

The real question is, will Arrieta follow along and take #53, so our big three can be in numerical order.

Those are just bad numbers. Something's got to be done about that.

[RShack]

No, you're not misremembering at all. In fact, many attribute his slow start in Frederick early this year to this very thing.

I think the issue with the Curve/Breaking Pitches in the bigs is the baseball. At least that's been the story with Hernandez.

As I understand it, the stitches are different. I would imagine that this would affect some guys more than others, simply because people are different, but I really don't know. I assume they use the MLB ball in ST. If so, then if DT felt he should tell him he couldn't use his curve anymore, the ball must not have bothered Matusz very much.

[ChrisP]

After 6 pages most of my comments have been mentioned already. I like that he worked fast and had a good mound presense. It's funny how Wieters saves the CB until the 2nd like he did in Tillman's first start. In the pregame Wieters was excited about CALLING the game and kind of taking charge...nice too see. Even with 5k's, it seemed like Brian was getting squeezed some. His ball calls were pretty close all night IMO. Maybe he got those calls in A and AA. It seemed like he could hit any spot he wanted, but showed no emotion when he didn't get the call.

Congrats on ther 1st "W"!

Great to hear so much praise from Leyland. How many times did Thorne and Martinez mention that?

[bej6789]

Tonight, at least, Brian Matusz taught me that it isn't how fast you throw -- it's the setup and change in speeds that matter. As Buck Martinez said, if he throws the change followed by a fastball... that fastball looks like 97 mph instead of the actual 91.

What I saw tonight was a pitcher wise beyond his years. He knew what he had to do, he attacked, and he used the gifts that got him to Baltimore tonight. This kid is a mainstay in the rotation, and you bet your sweet behind that the Yankees, Sox and Rays all made note of the performance tonight. That's three pitchers with considerable upside, at least.

[Elon Os Fan]

Man,

I can't wait to see Tillman follow Matusz the next couple of weeks.

One is a power pitching with a sick curve, while the other is a spotty off balance pitcher.

What a difference in pitching between these two!

[crowmst3k!]

Matusz has not missed a beat from his time at Bowie. He's been doing this all year, K'ing lots of batters, putting guys on only to end the inning putting up a big goose egg. He has so much poise. Best first round pick in the last 5 years (here's hoping that Wieters gives him some competition there in the future).