Matthews sees meteoric rise to Majors in '24 as 'just the beginning'

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews is a huge baseball fan. He acknowledged that he went gaga minutes before he made his Major League debut against the Royals on Aug. 13 last season. When he looked at Kansas City’s lineup, Matthews couldn’t believe that he was going to face Salvador Perez, a guy he grew up watching.

“It’s nuts, but it's awesome,” Matthews said.

It was a whirlwind for Matthews prior to his debut. With his promotion to the big leagues, he became the first Twins pitcher since Randy Dobnak in 2019 to pitch at four separate levels of the organization in one season.

“It was definitely surreal to go from where I was to debut last year. It was awesome,” Matthews said. “It’s just the beginning. The job doesn’t stop.”

Matthews had a nice beginning to his big league career. He won his first Major League game that day at Target Field, allowing two runs in five innings in the Twins’ 13-3 victory over the Royals. Matthews was one of three rookies (along with Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa) Minnesota relied on in a five-man rotation down the stretch as the club was seeking a postseason berth, which didn’t happen because the Twins went 9-18 during the month of September. Matthews had his ups and downs, making nine starts and allowing 28 earned runs in 37 2/3 innings (6.69 ERA).

“Everybody is talented in the big leagues,” Matthews said. “You have to live with the mistakes once you get up there and still be able to carry the confidence -- trusting your stuff. All those players I grew up watching at a young age. Just trust in your abilities knowing you belong in the same field as them.”

Despite the inconsistencies on the mound last year, manager Rocco Baldelli sees the potential in Matthews.

“Zebby is a good looking young horse of a man,” the skipper said. “He has the body and the good repeatable delivery. He is a very good strike-thrower with good stuff. Now he has some Major League time and experience to fall back on and think about as he moves forward.”

Matthews (who was the Twins’ No. 6 prospect when he debuted, according to MLB Pipeline) will be fighting to make the back end of the rotation. He will start Minnesota’s Grapefruit League opener on Saturday, against the Braves at Lee Health Sports Complex. Matthews is expected to pitch one or two innings.

It will be interesting to see how well he throws his changeup. It has been a pitch Matthews worked on over the offseason. He wants to start using the pitch against left-handed hitters, who had their way against him in 2024, batting .315 (29-for-92) with a .620 slugging percentage. Matthews will not know if he has mastered the pitch until Saturday’s game. He feels it is trending in the right direction.

“It was trial and error all offseason,” Matthews said about the changeup. “I felt bad for my [catcher] during the offseason. I was tearing him up with some changeups, but it was good. I think two weeks before I came down to Florida, I settled on a grip and I started to get comfortable with it.”

The Twins have given Matthews a vote of confidence because they say his changeup is in a good spot.

“Based on the feel of the ball out of my hand, how it looked to the eye, the tracking [of the pitch] was good,” he said. “The catchers, coaches and hitters had a lot of good things to say. But it is still a work in progress.”