Photo Credit: Jerry Kime/MiLB.com
Matt Pobereyko began the 2017 baseball season the same way he started the 2016 season, pitching for the Florence Freedom in the Frontier League.
For the second straight season, the right-hander dominated the independent league and was signed by a major league affiliate. This time by the New York Mets in June and assigned him to the A-Ball Columbia Fireflies.
Pobereyko, 25, pitched only 34.1 innings but that was enough to make a strong impression on the Mets organization. He struck out 53 batters in that span, good for a 13.89 K/9 which was the 28th best ratio in the entire minor leagues last year.
He also had a 3.15 ERA, 2.42 FIP, and 1.17 WHIP while allowing only two home runs. The 6’3”, 230 pound reliever held opponents to a .205/.280/.331 slash line including a measly .537 OPS by right-handed hitters.
Pobereyko showed the Mets enough to include him in their eight-player contingent assigned to the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League.
Yet again, Matt did not disappoint the Mets. He pitched 11.2 innings for the Scorpions without allowing a run, making him one of only two pitchers to throw more than 10 innings and not allow a run in the AFL. During that span he gave up seven hits, struck out 13 batters, walked just one and finished with a 0.69 WHIP.
“Coming out here (AFL) and pitching like I have, this is something I can pride myself on for sure,” Matt told MiLB.com. “Indy ball guys can get a bad rap, I know that. We can be used kind of like a revolving door. But this is a chance to cement myself in this organization. I’m not a money guy. I went undrafted. But I can be someone they can count on going forward.”
The former college starter’s arsenal features a fastball that sits 92-95 MPH, hard slider and a splitter that he has become comfortable throwing in any count. Matt has pitched from the stretch ever since getting Tommy John surgery in 2012 and started 11 of 12 games his final year at Kentucky Wesleyan College in 2015.
Pobereyko went on to talk about his AFL experience with MiLB.com, “In indy ball, I could pretty much beat anyone with the fastball. I’d work on the offspeed here and there in anticipation of getting picked up, but once I got here [in the AFL], I feel like I’ve really enhanced the location of my offspeed. My walks are down, and I think that explains some of the success behind it. I’ve become more advanced with my pitch selection because I can go to the split or the slider in more counts.”
As you can see in the video below, Pobereyko hides the ball well and short arms the ball which makes it tough for the hitter to pick up the ball out of his hand.
Minor News and Notes
On Wednesday, the Mets announced they signed outfielder Zach Borenstein to a minor league deal. Last week they signed left-handed reliever Matt Purke to a minor league deal as well. Both spent the entire 2017 in Triple-A and will get an invite to major league spring training.
Wuilmer Becerra‘s continues his season long struggles in the Venezuelan Winter League where he is slashing just .214/.241/.321 with 11 strikeouts in 28 at-bats.
Earlier this week the Mets added INF Luis Guillorme, RHP Tyler Bashlor, RHP Corey Oswalt and RHP Gerson Bautista to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Dec. 14 Rule 5 Draft.
Right-handers Adonis Uceta and Mickey Jannis seem like the two most likely candidates for the Mets to possibly lose in the draft.
