Brian Matusz is supposed to an anchor in the Baltimore Orioles’ rotation for years to come. He is 24 years old, left handed and, at 6’4″, 190 lbs., is an imposing figure on the mound. Matusz debuted in 2009, going 5-3 in 8 starts. Last season, Matusz finished 5th in the rookie of the year voting after winning 10 games (including his last 6 decisions) and having a WHIP of about 1.3. Granted, Matusz’s ERA had been a bit high through his first 2 years (4.63 and 4.30, respectively) but nothing in his results signaled the dramatic implosion that was his 2011 season.
The 2011 season for Brian Matusz (who, by the way, I drafted in my fantasy league) started with a series of minor health issues in spring training that really limited his work. Then, he strained his oblique, causing him to miss nearly two months and delaying his season debut until June 1. Brian pitched well in his first 2 starts, surrendering 1 run in 5.2 innings in the first and 2 in 5.1 in the second, earning the win. Since then, however, Matusz has made 10 starts, losing 9 of them and giving up up at least 4 earned runs and 1 home run in each. His ERA has risen in each start and he has had some disasters. He has had 3 starts that he hasn’t gotten out of the 2nd inning, 3 in which he’s surrendered nine hits, 5 in which he has allowed multiple home runs, 6 in which he has allowed 6 or more earned runs compared to only 4 in which he has given up fewer than 6 earned. Yesterday, he made his final start of the season, allowing 6 earned on 7 hits and 3 walks in 5.1 innings, thereby raising his ERA to 10.69, the single worst single season ERA for any pitcher in history with more than 40 innings pitched.
Matusz has called this the worst year of his life, I believe him. The question is, will next year be better? Matusz has been full of potential since he went 13-5 with a 2.33 ERA in 30 career minor league starts, no one doubts his physical ability. The question is, can he figure it out and can the Orioles afford to wait? All hope is certainly not lost for Brian, the record he set for worst single season ERA was previously held by some guy named Roy Halladay, and he certainly ended up doing ok for himself. Now, I don’t know if Matusz needs to go down to the minor leagues and completely rework his mechanics and turn into a totally different pitcher like Halladay did, or if he just needs an offseason to rest up and get himself on the right track.
I think that Matusz has a long and productive career ahead of him. I also think that we’ll know if this is the case in the first month or so of next season, if Matusz doesn’t need a Halladay-style complete make over. He certainly has potential but he has struggled with movement, location, and velocity. The O’s staff and manager Buck Showalter think that Matusz came into the season poorly prepared both physically and mentally but that he will be ok and that the offseason will be enough to right his ship. Showalter knows what he’s doing and I definitely trust his intuition when it comes to his young starter but I’ll definitely be interested to see how this plays out.
Stat of the Day: The Boston Red Sox have a team ERA of 5.82 in the month of September.
-Max Frankel
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