Twins’ Zebby Matthews Strikes Out Five in MLB Debut, Earns First-Career Victory
It’s been quite the year for Minnesota Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews, who began this season pitching at High-A.
The 24-year-old, an eighth-round selection in 2022, has been one of the fastest-rising prospects in baseball. After making four starts at High-A, he moved to Double-A for 10 appearances (nine starts) before heading to Triple-A for four starts. And he climbed another level on Tuesday, starting against the Kansas City Royals in his major-league debut.
Matthews impressed in his first big-league outing, tossing five innings of two-run ball on five hits – including MJ Melendez’s solo home run – and zero walks while striking out five. He threw 77 pitches, landing 49 for strikes.
The Twins’ offence provided the youngster with plenty of run support, exploding for 13 runs on the Royals’ staff, earning him his first major-league victory.
The 6-foot-5 hurler used five pitches versus the Royals but leaned heavily on his four-seamer, throwing it nearly half the time. It averaged 95.1 mph, maxing out at 96.6.
Of the five punchouts Matthews recorded, his first came in the first inning against All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who chased a down-and-away slider for one of the righty’s six whiffs in the game – three were via his cutter.
“The first strikeout definitely helped calm the nerves,” Matthews told reporters post-game, including the Associated Press.
Matthews controlled the strike zone in his Target Field debut, just as he’s done at every stop along the way this year. In 97 combined minor-league innings, he’s only walked seven of the 374 batters he’s faced, accounting for a sensational 1.9-percent walk rate.
At the same time, he’s also been highly effective at generating swing-and-miss, posting 114 strikeouts across three minor-league levels, surpassing the 100 mark in consecutive seasons.
“You can go out there and you can attack the zone, just throw your best stuff, try to get guys out,” Matthews said. “It definitely helps a lot.”
Minnesota’s starting rotation has been ravaged by injuries in 2024, with Anthony DeSclafani, Chris Paddack and Joe Ryan – all of whom may not return this season – currently on the IL. As such, they’ve been forced to promote several rookies from the minors to help fill those gaps.
That included Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa, and Matthews being the latest to join that group. Together, they’ll attempt to provide quality innings behind ace Pablo López and Bailey Ober.
“It’s definitely special, but you don’t quit working just because you made it here,” Matthews said. “There’s a lot of stuff to keep doing, keep improving on, so get back to work.”
Assuming Matthews remains with the big-league club moving forward, the young right-hander will be lined up to make his next start on Monday against the San Diego Padres. If all goes well, perhaps he’ll receive an extended run to help this team surge toward securing a playoff position.
Kansas City avoided the sweep with a 4-1 victory over Minnesota in Wednesday’s series finale, trimming the Twins’ lead for the second AL wild-card seed to just a game and a half.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Lectrician2. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.