This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf's Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
BRADENTON, Fla. -- One look at David Matoma and you would never guess that the skinny 19-year-old right-hander from Uganda may have the hottest fastball in the Pirates’ farm system. You probably wouldn’t think so after the second, third or fourth look, either.
Don’t feel bad. Matoma’s velocity has surprised even himself sometimes. He had a couple Spring Training games in the Dominican Republic last year where he was throwing about 97 mph. That type of velocity alone is eye opening at that young an age and at that level, but when he got into a pro game in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League, he checked the radar gun and saw 101 mph.
“I was happy I was able to make some things happen,” Matoma said. “I had it in my mind that I was going to go hard and throw hard.”
Matoma is entering his third pro season in the Pirates' system after signing as an international free agent out of Uganda in 2023. He’s thrown only 38 2/3 innings, but the results have been sterling, striking out 42 with just four runs (two earned) allowed across 24 games in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League and the FCL. The expectation is he’ll make the jump to Single-A Bradenton this year and will start getting more multi-inning outings, signs that the right-handed reliever could start his climb through the Bucs’ affiliates.
What that climb looks like is still to be seen, as there really isn’t a blueprint for a player like Matoma. No Major League player has come out of Uganda. Former Pirates infielder Gift Ngoepe is the only Major League player who has come out of the continent of Africa. Matoma was on the bashful side during his interview at the Spring Breakout game in Clearwater, Fla. on Friday, but he was proud to share that he put on 20 pounds this offseason, putting him at 181 pounds. At 6-foot, he has the build of a middle infielder -- or maybe a soccer player, which is the sport he followed before he discovered baseball at age 10 -- not of a power pitcher.
The potential is certainly there. It’s why MLB Pipeline pegged Matoma as the club’s No. 30 prospect and gave him a grade of 70 on his fastball. For reference, the only other prospect in the Pirates’ system with a 70-grade fastball is Bubba Chandler. Mix in a gyro-slider and a splitter, and Matoma's pitch mix can certainly play, especially with a potentially plus-plus heater as his foundation.
But he’s also still a teenager, still skinny and still only has a couple dozen pro innings under his belt. The Pirates have shown a talent for developing pitchers with general manager Ben Cherington at the helm, but Matoma requires careful considerations because he is a potential unicorn.
“As much as he’s learning the game, we’re learning him too,” Pirates assistant director of coaching and player development Shawn Bowman said at the Spring Breakout game, where he served as the manager. “It is so non-traditional that you can take the tradition of baseball and apply it to almost everyone, but then you also have to consider who’s in front of you. That’s both the ebb and flow of what he’s showing us and telling us, but we’re also trying to guide him in a way that makes sense for him as an individual.
“So hard to nail down, but yeah, it’s a unique one. 100 mph coming from Uganda, it’s something else.”
Being part of a second Spring Breakout game is a small way to help Matoma prepare for that journey upwards. He knows what it means to share a clubhouse with someone like Chandler, who is on the precipice of the Majors, and while he didn’t pitch in the game, it’s something he can remember.
“I think that helps to motivate you at times to make it,” Matoma said.