Free agent reliever Tyler Matzek will hold a showcase for scouts on Thursday in Irvine, reports Jon Morosi of the MLB Network. The southpaw is looking to demonstrate his health after being limited to 11 major league appearances last season.
None of those came after May 4. Matzek began the year in the Braves’ bullpen. Opponents tagged him for 11 runs over 10 innings. Atlanta placed him on the injured list with elbow inflammation during the first week of May. Matzek remained on the shelf for more than three months. Atlanta dealt him to the Giants as a salary offset in the Jorge Soler deadline acquisition.
San Francisco released Matzek rather than plug him into the MLB bullpen when he was healthy. Atlanta circled back to re-sign the 34-year-old lefty to a minor league deal. Matzek pitched four times with Triple-A Gwinnett and didn’t earn a call up. He qualified for minor league free agency at season’s end.
Elbow issues have derailed Matzek in consecutive seasons. He underwent Tommy John surgery during Atlanta’s postseason run in 2022. That cost him the entire ’23 campaign. Between his age and the injuries, he’ll likely be limited to minor league offers. If Matzek’s stuff looks sharp in his showcase, he should find interest from teams as a depth option. He had a strong three-year run with Atlanta between 2020-22. Matzek combined for a 2.92 earned run average while striking out more than 27% of batters faced in 135 2/3 innings over that stretch.
Get this man some recspecs and knight him as the new Jesse Chavez.
Have to imagine it’s at UC Irvine, a really under rated campus. It is very nice.
He’s a local guy and his injury history fits perfectly here. I wouldn’t mind him on a minors deal at all if he’s healthy.
do it, friedman
Since I live on the opposite side of the country in a different league (Washington state) I am urged to admit that I would get Tyler Madzek and AJ Minter confused and mixed up quite regularly.
‘nun wrong with a good ‘ol minor league deal for any team
Looks like A’s have a spot open for the last relief role—I’d go with him or Hill.
Still holding out hope for an Alonso signing, but I’m good with Soderstrom for now. Would be great if Soderstrom could be moved in a deal for an ace like Cease/Castillo though!
Castillo wouldn’t be traded to a team in the same division…I wouldn’t think.
Matzek has had an interesting career to this point. Had a 5 year gap in between major league appearances. Shows up and pitches well for the braves now it’s back to can he pitch in the majors?
A story of what could have been. Was a top prospect that literally flamed out. He said he had the “yips” and those control issues derailed those earlier years of his career. Now his body is seemingly starting to fail him.
Thanks for filling me in on the complete story there. He’s not someone I followed closely, maybe I’ll look into it further.
He definitely was good for a while with the braves. Having a body that fails you is seriously depressing, especially if they have talent
Irrespective of where Tyler Matzek ends up he’ll always be a Brave, and I’ll never forget how he came into GM6 of the NLCS 2021 against the stacked LA Dodgers, inheriting runners at 2nd and 3rd none out from Luke Jackson, and then he proceeded to face Albert Pujols, Steven Souza, and Mookie Betts, and he went and struck all three of them out-a thing of pure baseball beauty. For this he will always be a Braves legend.
I wish Tyler Matzek nothing but the best for any future team, and nothing but the best in life and into the future.
youtube.com/watch?v=V200xmqXb6E
Single greatest performance by a Braves pitcher in one inning of all time.
I wish him the best as well! He won’t be able to buy himself a drink in Braves country for the rest of his days.
Agreed. Goosebumps and will live forever in baseball lore. I had never seen anything like it and may never again.
I could see this as an AJ Preller type move…hard throwing lefty for the bullpen to go along with Suarez and it would allow Morejon to be in the starting rotation similar to putting Seth Lugo into the starting rotation.
Low cost/risk, high reward type of signing. Could be a trade piece at the deadline if the Padres are not in contention for the post season. It would not surprise me in the least if the Padres took a flier on Tyler.