Long Island born Steven Matz has struggled through his spring starts thus far, bringing an 8.31 ERA into Sunday’s start against the Washington Nationals. Matz finally seemed to get on the right track by putting in a solid performance against the Mets’ biggest rival.
“It’s nice to get some results during spring training,” said Matz. “You’re out there working on stuff – that’s what this is for – but it’s nice to get some results.” (NY Daily News)
Matz had his best start of the Spring, pitching 5.2 innings, surrendering just one hit and one run, while striking out five and walking four. He lowered his spring ERA to 6.27.
Terry Collins, who is said to not think much of spring stats, knew it was still important for Matz to get his spring ending on a high note.
“You have to leave here on a positive note,” Collins said. “When you’re feeling good about yourself, it speaks a lot. He had a bad outing last week against the Yankees and came back today. I think it helped out a lot. I was real happy with the way he threw.”
Matz, 24, will be looked upon as a big part of this rotation as he embarks on his first full year in the big leagues. His problem thus far, he states, has been his inability at times to control his pitches.
“I was missing fat in some other games I’ve pitched. Sunday, I would say my misses were better,” Matz said.
He was consistently hitting 94 on the radar gun, showing that his fastball had no problem reaching its necessary velocity. Matz stated as the day went on he ran out of gas, but came away with a nice end line as he readies himself for the regular season.
“The air was thick,” Matz said. “Probably the most humid day I’ve pitched in since I pitched down here. That probably had something to do with it.”
Matz is expected to get one more tune-up before the opening of the season. He may possibly see action in Las Vegas this week against the Chicago Cubs but nothing has yet to be officially announced.
