Last Sunday at Citi Field, Steven Matz made a debut for the ages, making it almost impossible for him to replicate the magnificence which he put on display in front of his hometown crowd.
Then came Sunday in Los Angeles.
Matz was even more dazzling on the mound for the Mets, allowing just two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts, throwing 65 of his 101 pitches for strikes.
“This guy has got outstanding stuff. You saw it today,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He’s got three ‘plus’ pitches. He throws strikes. He doesn’t beat himself. He’s a great athlete. He fields his position. He handles the bat. He’s going to be really good.”
Manager Terry Collins said the club decided to limit Matz to the six innings because of a mild lat strain under his left armpit which he sustained following his big league debut. However, Matz said it did not bother him during his appearance on Sunday.
“I got my treatment and stuff,” Matz explained about his strain. “It was just a little tight. Once I got out there, it was feeling good. And it still feels good now.”
Matz threw fastballs about 75 percent of the time on Sunday, but he had phenomenal movement on that pitch and was beautifully locating that pitch on both corners of the plate. He was careful not to throw to the same location, and he mixed in his curveball (which looked slurvy at times) at the right moments which kept the Los Angeles hitters off-balanced and kept their timing off as well.
It was because of that effective combination he was able to throw 47 of the 76 fastballs he executed for strikes, and induced 13 swings and misses and only one hit against his fastball the entire afternoon.
Matz looks so free and easy out there, and he does an outstanding job of repeating his delivery with both the curve and fastball. It looks like the ball explodes out of his hand as a result, making his mid-90s fastball look a lot harder than it is, which seems impossible to do.
It’s only two starts, but it’s amazing how poised and confident he has been right out of the gate in his big league career. It was a game the Mets really needed to win, he knew that, and delivered in a huge way for the club.
What’s more, he did it against a team which doesn’t lose very often in that building was impressive, even more so than that of his big league debut a week earlier.
“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been great. It’s been a good learning experience so far. I’m going to keep on learning and try to get better.”
It was a rather ace-like performance for Matz.
Not bad for a kid who has yet to throw 20 big league innings.
Just Mets 