Matijevic’s home-run ball a gift for dad
Joe Matijevic is a Pennsylvania firefighter who works 24hour shifts. He spent most of Father’s Day at his firehouse but left a little after 8 p.m., allowing him ample time to watch his son hit sixth and start at designated hitter in front of a national television audience.
Joe coached J.J.’s baseball teams beginning when he turned 4 or 5 and through Little League, stopping once he enrolled at Norwin High School. Joe said he never missed a game there or across J.J.’s three seasons at Arizona.
Joe followed almost all of the 386 minor league games J.J. played. Father and son swap text messages almost every day. Joe refrains from asking about streaks or swing mechanics. He just wishes his son good luck and says “I love you.”
“I know how hard he’s worked,” Joe said Sunday. “All the work he’s put in: the time, the effort, everything else. It’s amazing. It’s a dream come true. From the time he was 4 or 5 years old until now. It’s a dream come true for him. I couldn’t be any more happy for him.”
The two texted for Father’s Day before Sunday’s game, one Joe would not attend but in which J.J. would make history. He struck his first major league hit — a solo home run — in the fourth inning of the Astros’ 4-3 win over the White Sox. Yordan Alvarez had been the last Astro to homer for his first career hit.
“Best Father’s Day ever,” Joe said.
Joe’s father is in poor health, so traveling anywhere at the moment is difficult. He arrived home Sunday to an empty house and a single television. To end the first, J.J. struck out, stranded two runners in scoring position and prevented a big inning.
Home-plate umpire Cory Blaser blew the final strike call and ejected hitting coach Alex Cintrón when he told him so. Matijevic trudged back toward the dugout without debate after his fifth strikeout in eight major league at-bats.
Manager Dusty Baker maintained confidence in the minor league call-up. The skipper pointed to some swagger Matijevic always exudes. On April 22, Baker threw the 26-year-old into the fire for his first major league plate appearance — in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and the tying run at third base against Toronto closer Jordan Romano.
Matijevic struck out, but the moment illustrated Baker’s philosophy for prospects. He does not shy away from using them, often reiterating a pertinent point: These players earned promotions. If they’re on his roster, Baker plans to utilize them.
For that reason, Baker’s slotting Matijevic sixth Sunday should surprise no one. Alvarez missed the game with a hand injury no one in the organization wants to specify. Aledmys Díaz did not play, either, after reaggravating his left shoulder on a swing during Saturday’s game.
Baker had three options to DH: Matijevic, Jose Siri and Martín Maldonado. Matijevic slashed .313/.374/.630 in 166 plate appearances at Class AAA Sugar Land, solving some of the contact issues and inflated strikeout numbers that plagued the beginning of his professional career. This offseason, he moved closer to the Astros’ spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., for more intense training.
“I learned a lot last year, whether it’s being more aggressive in the zone, taking what I get, not trying to pull everything, not trying to do too much,” Matijevic said. “Just becoming a better, complete hitter. That’s something that’s made me take that extra step this year.”
Matijevic’s place on the major league roster is a byproduct of better at-bats and brutal injury luck. He earned his first major league promotion in April after Jose Altuve injured his hamstring. He’s here now due to Jeremy Peña’s bothersome left thumb.
Injuries to Taylor Jones and Niko Goodrum in the minor leagues made Matijevic the only logical option for a promotion when Peña injured himself. Matijevic took an at-bat Wednesday and another Sunday and still could not notch his first major league hit.
“It’s something obviously you try not to think about,” he said, “but you’re thinking about it.”
His first-inning strikeout Sunday allowed Chicago starter Michael Kopech to settle in. He retired seven of the next eight hitters he saw before Matijevic reappeared in the third. Kopech fired a first-pitch fastball on the outer half of his strike zone. Matijevic swung. His father screamed.
“I knew when he hit it,” Joe said. “He hits a lot of oppositefield home runs like that. I knew as soon as he hit it. I was like, ‘Please get over the wall.’ I know it’s a high wall. I just started screaming and yelling once he did.”
J.J.’s first hit flew 343 feet into the third row of Crawford Box seats. He struck it at just a 95 mph exit velocity, and it carried a .210 expected batting average. According to Statcast, the fly ball would have been a home run in just one other ballpark — Wrigley Field — but Matijevic deserves credit for taking advantage of the quirky construction to create a lifelong memory.
“I knew it was gone,” J.J. said. “Just when I was rounding the bases, I took it all in. I wasn’t really thinking anything, but I looked up and saw all the fans and stuff. I really took it in. It was a special moment.”
J.J. crossed home plate and pointed toward the sky. Altuve met him outside the dugout for a bear hug. Peña wrapped him in one inside. In Pennsylvania, Joe fielded a flood of phone calls and text messages. Friends started coming over to his house for an impromptu party.
“My heart is still pounding through my chest,” Joe said upon answering one phone call.
A teenager in the stands secured the baseball J.J. hit. To get it back, the teen negotiated a package of six game tickets, six batting practice passes, a baseball signed by Altuve and a jersey signed by Justin Verlander.
“I wish I would have caught the ball,” J.J. said with a smirk. “I was planning on giving the kid a signed bat, ’cause that’s all I would have ever wanted, but man, he’s the best negotiator I’ve ever seen.”
J.J. cradled the baseball in Houston’s celebratory clubhouse. It won’t be in his possession for long.
“One-hundred percent give it to my dad,” J.J. said. “That’s exactly what I was thinking in the dugout after I hit it.
“I just hope he’s proud of me. That’s all that really matters to me. I know he is. I know he’s smiling back home.”