Steven Matz‘s dominance continued last night for Triple-A Las Vegas. He pitched seven shutout innings while allowing just four hits and striking out five.
Matz was simply overpowering, and he even got stronger as the game progressed. He retired the final ten batters that faced him before being pulled in the eight inning at 87 pitches.
Matz now improves his record to 7-4 and his ERA to an excellent 2.11. This mark ranks as the best in the entire Pacific Coast League, and he is also tops in the league in strikeouts with 86.
Even though the Mets are faced with a logjam in the rotation, they really need to find a spot for Matz at this point. With such impressive numbers, it’s clear that he is MLB ready and deserving of a promotion. The super two deadline has likely passed, so there’s no longer any justification for keeping down in the minors.
Maybe it’s not realistic to expect Matz to dominate as he has right away in the majors, but he should still be a likely upgrade over the struggling Jon Niese and his 4.21 ERA.
While taking out the established veteran will be a controversial move, it’s one the Mets need to make. Matz now gives the team a better chance to win.
