<img alt="Cleveland Guardians v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/t5Va2c8hsdHdG62C_TN6edCAMTQ=/0x0:7376x4917/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73706914/2149778760.0.jpg">
Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
The former postseason hero returned to the field, but not to form, in 2024. After missing the 2023 season recovering from elbow surgery, the Atlanta Braves welcomed Tyler Matzek back into their bullpen fold in 2024. A hero of the 2021 postseason, the left-handed reliever had a chance to ease into form given the investments the club made in the bullpen. Unfortunately for both Matzek and the Braves, he struggled before landing on the Injured List and didn’t pitch in the majors after an appearance on May 4, 2024.
How acquired
The Braves signed Matzek as a free agent on August 15, 2019. A former first round pick of the Colorado Rockies, Matzek made his debut in 2014 and pitched in the majors again in 2015 but bounced around multiple organizations trying to re-find the form that saw him make 19 starts with an above-average pitching clip for the Rockies in 2014.
The Braves traded Matzek to the San Francisco Giants at the 2024 trade deadline in the deal that returned former Braves outfielder/DH Jorge Soler and former Braves reliever Luke Jackson. Matzek didn’t pitch with the big league club in San Francisco before they released him on August 30. The next day, Matzek was back in the Braves organization after re-signing with the club on August 31.
What were the expectations?
Matzek made his debut in Atlanta in 2020 and was a key member of the bullpen that year, despite arguably only making the shortened season roster due to the temporary expansion allowed to teams. Despite some inconsistency, he had a pretty good season in 2021, as well, though most will remember him for his postseason heroics moreso than the fact that his regular-season xFIP- in 2021 was a pretty uninspiring 94.
Matzek battled injuries and ineffectiveness in 2022, finishing with -0.2 fWAR and undergoing Tommy John Surgery. Still, the Braves re-signed Matzek to a two-year deal, with an option for 2025, despite his injury in the 2022-2023 offseason. He missed all of 2023 rehabbing his arm.
Coming into the 2024 season, Matzek was a both a luxury and a wild card. Having been, at times, a dominant lefty reliever, the upside to the club was another potentially-dominant left-handed arm to what already projected as a great bullpen unit. But, Matzek had missed a lot of time and hadn’t been good when on the field since the title run in 2021, which made nailing down a specific expectation difficult. Would he struggle and get injured again? Or would he find his dominant form?
2024 results
It didn’t take long for the answer to that question to be revealed: Matzek struggled mightily, even in a mop-up role, in 11 appearances spanning ten innings of work. He finished with a 238/149/99 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-), and while he didn’t struggle with walks in that short stint, his strikeout stuff also diminished quite a bit. He finished with -0.2 fWAR, the same deficit he posted pre-injury in 2022.
Matzek hit the shelf with elbow inflammation in early May, and started playing catch in late June, but ultimately never returned. He ended up being traded to the Giants in the Jorge Soler/Luke Jackson acquisition, and actually made some rehab outings in the San Francisco system, but he was waived and ultimately released before August ended. The Braves signed him to a minor league deal immediately thereafter, and he finished the year with four appearances for Triple-A Gwinnett that weren’t really notable in any way.
What went right?
Well, Matzek was healthy enough to make the roster out of Spring Training. And in the end, he was able to rejoin the organization after being traded away. His line wasn’t great, but a 99 xFIP- isn’t that bad for a mop-up guy; it’s just superfluous. And of course, a sky-high HR/FB meant he didn’t even benefit from non-horrible peripherals.
Still, his season wasn’t devoid of positive memories. He actually finished with a 3/1 shutdown/meltdown ratio. And Lady Luck even smiled on him a few times, like on April 7, when he protected a one-run lead in the eighth inning despite a leadoff walk and zero strikeouts. It was an amusing turnaround from his prior outing, where he struck out the side and walked a batter in an inning against the White Sox.
What went wrong?
Most notably, injuries kept Matzek out of action for most of the year. He was limited to just 11 major league appearances and just nine minor league outings.
Everything else kind of went wrong too, at least in those early outings before he hit the shelf. A 23.1 percent HR/FB rate, a .406 BABIP-against, and a strand rate just over 54 percent are all tough things to deal with, in ten innings or not.
His whiff rate evaporated across the board, and the command was spotty, though the latter is to be expected given the lengthy layoff. His pitches didn’t seem particularly fraught relative to earlier, but that’s little consolation given that Matzek now hasn’t had a positive fWAR campaign since 2021.
2025 outlook
Given that the Braves brought Matzek back after the Giants cut bait, they might be interested in trotting him out again, at least in Spring Training. Still, he’s got a long way to go before he can be considered roster-worthy, and of course, he needs to actually stay healthy as well. The projections are quite unkind to him at the moment, but if he’s truly healthy, he could probably exceed an expectation of sub-replacement performance in a jiffy.
<img alt="Cleveland Guardians v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/t5Va2c8hsdHdG62C_TN6edCAMTQ=/0x0:7376x4917/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73706914/2149778760.0.jpg">
Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
The former postseason hero returned to the field, but not to form, in 2024. After missing the 2023 season recovering from elbow surgery, the Atlanta Braves welcomed Tyler Matzek back into their bullpen fold in 2024. A hero of the 2021 postseason, the left-handed reliever had a chance to ease into form given the investments the club made in the bullpen. Unfortunately for both Matzek and the Braves, he struggled before landing on the Injured List and didn’t pitch in the majors after an appearance on May 4, 2024.
How acquired
The Braves signed Matzek as a free agent on August 15, 2019. A former first round pick of the Colorado Rockies, Matzek made his debut in 2014 and pitched in the majors again in 2015 but bounced around multiple organizations trying to re-find the form that saw him make 19 starts with an above-average pitching clip for the Rockies in 2014.
The Braves traded Matzek to the San Francisco Giants at the 2024 trade deadline in the deal that returned former Braves outfielder/DH Jorge Soler and former Braves reliever Luke Jackson. Matzek didn’t pitch with the big league club in San Francisco before they released him on August 30. The next day, Matzek was back in the Braves organization after re-signing with the club on August 31.
What were the expectations?
Matzek made his debut in Atlanta in 2020 and was a key member of the bullpen that year, despite arguably only making the shortened season roster due to the temporary expansion allowed to teams. Despite some inconsistency, he had a pretty good season in 2021, as well, though most will remember him for his postseason heroics moreso than the fact that his regular-season xFIP- in 2021 was a pretty uninspiring 94.
Matzek battled injuries and ineffectiveness in 2022, finishing with -0.2 fWAR and undergoing Tommy John Surgery. Still, the Braves re-signed Matzek to a two-year deal, with an option for 2025, despite his injury in the 2022-2023 offseason. He missed all of 2023 rehabbing his arm.
Coming into the 2024 season, Matzek was a both a luxury and a wild card. Having been, at times, a dominant lefty reliever, the upside to the club was another potentially-dominant left-handed arm to what already projected as a great bullpen unit. But, Matzek had missed a lot of time and hadn’t been good when on the field since the title run in 2021, which made nailing down a specific expectation difficult. Would he struggle and get injured again? Or would he find his dominant form?
2024 results
It didn’t take long for the answer to that question to be revealed: Matzek struggled mightily, even in a mop-up role, in 11 appearances spanning ten innings of work. He finished with a 238/149/99 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-), and while he didn’t struggle with walks in that short stint, his strikeout stuff also diminished quite a bit. He finished with -0.2 fWAR, the same deficit he posted pre-injury in 2022.
Matzek hit the shelf with elbow inflammation in early May, and started playing catch in late June, but ultimately never returned. He ended up being traded to the Giants in the Jorge Soler/Luke Jackson acquisition, and actually made some rehab outings in the San Francisco system, but he was waived and ultimately released before August ended. The Braves signed him to a minor league deal immediately thereafter, and he finished the year with four appearances for Triple-A Gwinnett that weren’t really notable in any way.
What went right?
Well, Matzek was healthy enough to make the roster out of Spring Training. And in the end, he was able to rejoin the organization after being traded away. His line wasn’t great, but a 99 xFIP- isn’t that bad for a mop-up guy; it’s just superfluous. And of course, a sky-high HR/FB meant he didn’t even benefit from non-horrible peripherals.
Still, his season wasn’t devoid of positive memories. He actually finished with a 3/1 shutdown/meltdown ratio. And Lady Luck even smiled on him a few times, like on April 7, when he protected a one-run lead in the eighth inning despite a leadoff walk and zero strikeouts. It was an amusing turnaround from his prior outing, where he struck out the side and walked a batter in an inning against the White Sox.
What went wrong?
Most notably, injuries kept Matzek out of action for most of the year. He was limited to just 11 major league appearances and just nine minor league outings.
Everything else kind of went wrong too, at least in those early outings before he hit the shelf. A 23.1 percent HR/FB rate, a .406 BABIP-against, and a strand rate just over 54 percent are all tough things to deal with, in ten innings or not.
His whiff rate evaporated across the board, and the command was spotty, though the latter is to be expected given the lengthy layoff. His pitches didn’t seem particularly fraught relative to earlier, but that’s little consolation given that Matzek now hasn’t had a positive fWAR campaign since 2021.
2025 outlook
Given that the Braves brought Matzek back after the Giants cut bait, they might be interested in trotting him out again, at least in Spring Training. Still, he’s got a long way to go before he can be considered roster-worthy, and of course, he needs to actually stay healthy as well. The projections are quite unkind to him at the moment, but if he’s truly healthy, he could probably exceed an expectation of sub-replacement performance in a jiffy.
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