HE’S GOTTA BE EVEN STEVEN!
Mets lefty Matz knows he needs to stay calm to produce at high level
Steven Matz knows the blueprint to his successful outings is staying calm on the mound. Controlling the moment is one the southpaw’s goals this season as he hopes that maybe, just maybe, 2020 can finally be his breakout year.
Too often last season, seven starts to be exact, Matz spiraled out of control in early innings and let the game and the moment speed up and away from him. Matz gave up at least five earned runs in each of those seven starts — leading to his brief demotion to the bullpen and bloated 4.21 season ERA. Matz routinely reminded himself to slow down last year, take it pitch by pitch and remain poised in the face of adversity. All three el
ements will be important steps in Matz’s potential for success with the Mets.
“This kid works so hard and he wants to overdo,” manager Luis Rojas said. “Sometimes he gets a little bit emotional on the mound, but he’s been able to control that when he doesn’t get the result that he’s looking for. So he’s able to stay within himself. I think we’re going to see a lot of good repetitions as far as quality pitches and that’s going to lead to quality starts of course.”
The 29-year-old worked to maintain composure when he practiced in Nashville with a slew of major leaguers — including teammate Brad Brach, right-hander Lance Lynn, veteran catcher James McCann, infielder Logan Forsythe, outfielder Adam Duvall, lefthander Rex Brothers and more — during the baseball shutdown due to the pandemic. Matz threw to hitters once a week with outings stretched to four innings to make up for the loss of in-season starts.
In addition to keeping his cool, Matz messed around with a couple of different grips on his curveball in Nashville. It’s one of the pitches that hurt Matz the most last season, in addition to his changeup. He worked with Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, who offered some pointers on taking his curveball from the bullpen to live batting practice. It worked out well for Matz during his three-inning simulated game on Monday, which drew praise from teammate and back-to-back Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, who called the outing “very impressive to watch” and “maybe the best I’ve seen him in a long time.”
“The biggest thing for me is the curveball, I get hurt when I leave it up,” Matz said. “Really executing that curveball, even if it’s not the nastiest curveball, just placement more than anything is good. Working on that is something I was really focused on down there [in Nashville.]”
Matz anticipates having a difficult time adjusting to starts without fans in the stands this year. A lot of his emotion and energy on the mound starts with the crowd noise, and that’s especially the case at Citi Field. Last year, Matz pitched a 2.31 home ERA, compared to a 6.62 road ERA. He said it felt really weird not to have fans watching when he worked out with major leaguers in Nashville, but it helped him get used to the idea of pitching in an empty stadium.
“It’s definitely going to be missed, especially pitching here in front of the home crowd, the New York fans,” Matz said. “It’s going to be an adjustment for sure. But it’s just what we gotta deal with. We just gotta deal with the task at hand.”
When Matz wasn’t focusing on his repertoire, he was giving back to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens near Citi Field, the FDNY and NYPD. He spoke to his agent about using money saved from successful TRU32 (Matz’s foundation) charity events and put it toward donations to these New York-based agencies during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak. Matz donated $32,000 to first responders through his TRU32 program.
“This is an area where we can really help,” Matz said. “We had some money in the war chest so it was kind of a no-brainer for us. These people are on the frontline and right in our backyard from Citi Field.”