All eyes are going to be on New York and Tampa today, where the Rays and Yankees could combine to put a serious dent in the Red Sox’ playoff hopes.
But as far as the AL East goes, there’s an equally interesting storyline unfolding at Comerica Park in Detroit today in an otherwise meaningless game between the Tigers and Orioles, where former top prospect Brian Matusz will try his best to avoid making history.
Right now Matusz’s ERA stands at an astronomical 10.68. As MASN’s Roch Kochman notes, if it finishes that high or worse, he will officially finish his season with the highest ERA of any Major League pitcher to make 10 or more starts in a season. The current record holder by the way? Would you believe it’s none other than Roy Halladay, who finished the 2000 season with a 10.64 ERA. My how times have changed.
Matusz is not necessarily a bad pitcher — he’s just having a really, REALLY bad season.
The no. 4 overall pick in the 2008 draft, Matusz rocketed through the minors, making his Major League debut just shy of a year to the day after he was drafted. He was – and still is – expected to be a cornerstone of the Orioles’ rotation for years to come. Coming into this season, he had posted a respectable line of 15-14, 4.37 ERA in his first two seasons, finishing in 5th place in the 2010 Rookie of the Year balloting.
This season however has been a disaster, to put it charitably. Matusz started off the season on the disabled list with a muscle strain and has been fighting an uphill battle to get back into form ever since. His season began on a high note in June. In his first two starts, he allowed only three earned runs in 11 innings while winning his first decision against Oakland. That was to be his season’s apex though as since then, Matusz has simply imploded.
In nine starts since those first two glimmers of hope, he hasn’t allowed fewer than 4 earned runs in a game, lasting more than five innings and fewer than two innings three times each. In between, the Orioles demoted him to the minors in an effort to help him find whatever was missing from his game. Despite pitching well at Bowie (AA) and Norfolk (AAA), Matusz has been unable to figure things out at the Major League level.
MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli reports that the Orioles’ coaching staff has been impressed with progress and appear to be equally baffled by his struggles.
Per MLB.com:
“His last five or six bullpens, the ball is really coming out good,” pitching coach Rick Adair said. “He’s got consistent spin, his command down is good. His delivery is good, he’s much stronger. He’s got a cleaner delivery. [We’re] just real encouraged by what he’s doing.”
Of course one has to question how much of a favor Buck Showalter is doing running him out there against a Tiger offense that has been downright terrifying this season. Detroit ranks among the league leaders in all major offensive statistical categories including batting average (.274, 4th) and slugging percentage (.427, 4th).
They haven’t shown any signs of taking their foot off the gas pedal either, given the fact that they’re still trying to wrest home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs away from the Texas Rangers, something that will be key to determining whether they get the always dangerous Yankees or whoever survives the limp to the Wild Card between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.
If Matusz cannot lower his ERA, it’s not necessarily the death knell of his career but he’s going to have to do some major work to avoid ending up like the other guys in the top 10, hoping his career ends up more like that of Halladay than the likes of Micah Bowie, Todd Van Poppel and Aaron Myette, none of whom did much after their disastrous seasons.
