This past Monday marked Tyler Matzek’s much awaited return to the Atlanta Braves mound. He hadn’t been on a mound in a game since October 5, 2022, until that point. Shortly after that last show, Matzek had Tommy John surgery and started the long journey back. It’s promising that Matzek, who faced the Orioles on Monday, finished the game healthy and with no problems after giving up a hit and a walk in a scoreless inning.
Matzek had already raised the prospect of starting the season on the disabled list, which would provide him more time to recover. Nothing has been decided yet, according to Brian Snitker, who stated on Thursday that the team will wait to make a decision and observe how things develop for the remainder of the spring.
“I believe it will rely on him and his current state of affairs. It everything begins here, and at the conclusion, we’ll simply assess it to see where he stands,” Snitker stated. For his first time, it was incredibly good. I’m sure that made him feel good. That seems to be the situation as well. You want him to know he’s correct and to feel good about it.Mark Bowman of MLB.com notes that
To put things in perspective, Matzek’s fastball averaged 96 mph in 2021. In 2022, that decreased to 94.1 mph. Snitker stated that he was not worried about Matzek’s speed and that it would always take him time to gain strength.
“I didn’t even bother to look at it. Snitker remarked, “I just wanted to see him out there throwing.” Since he hasn’t had that level of pressure in a while, I wouldn’t anticipate it to be much more than that. It will require some time for him to gain strength. He’s feeling fantastic right now, so I think everything else will work itself out as long as he stays healthy and can make the turns out there.
In related news, former reliever Ken Giles made his Atlanta spring training debut on Wednesday, pitching a flawless inning and striking out Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, and Alec Bohm. Despite being ill and missing the trip, Snitker was nonetheless pleased with Giles’ performance.
That is rather good. Snitker remarked of Giles, “I was saying, you got something going on there if you do that.” It’s hard to tell, but I watched it on a computer. There were other guys in there chatting, and Kranny mentioned how wonderful the slider was. I am aware that they threw some odd swings at him. Holy cow, that’s extremely encouraging. That’s encouraging too.
Due to injuries, Giles, 33, has only played in eight major league innings since the 2019 season ended. He is vying for a job in the bullpen after signing a minor league contract with Atlanta in the offseason. When Giles made his debut, his speed was said to have been between 94 and 95 mph. Although he is no longer as good as he once was as a closer in the league, his slider was highly praised. In the coming spring, he will be someone to watch.
With the Braves in camp, veteran infielder David Fletcher is vying for a final bench place on the team. In a victory over the Rays in Port Charlotte on Thursday, Fletcher played second base and went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double. In four spring training games, Fletcher is 6-for-11 at the plate. His defensive versatility will probably decide whether or not he makes the Opening Day roster, even with the strong numbers.
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