Without the Minor League season, I’ll periodically be going back in time to watch starts from last year, to bring video and my thoughts on what the pitcher presents. Welcome to Pitcher Rewind.
By sheer volume there are always so many interesting pitchers throughout the minors. The Red Sox, while not boasting the strongest farm system circa 2019, had a very interesting arm in RHP Bryan Mata. He was aided last year by the addition of a cutter to his repertoire, which helped him climb prospects lists.
Mata split time between Advanced-A and Double-A last year, combining for a 3.43 ERA with 111 strikeouts and a 12 SwStr% across 105 innings. The biggest killer for him was his walk numbers during the year. There might not be a game that encapsulate his season more than his last outing of the year where he threw 7 shutout innings, striking out a season high nine batters, while also walking a season high five in the game. That is not the game I chose for this.
Finding the right start to breakdown took some doing. Independent of performance, it was tough to find a camera angle that did Mata justice. His ball dances all around and I wanted to be able to showcase that. For that reason, I chose a start while he was still in Advanced-A. This start took place on June 27, as he squared off against Winston-Salem. This was a tale of two pitchers, the guy from the first two innings, then the guy for the last four. It was night and day, but I’ll get into that.
Mata’s Line: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 ER,4 R, 7 K, 3 BB
The game was certainly eventful, from wild pitches to past balls to some defensive adventures, it had it all. As we prepare to dig into how Mata did, it’s important to know what to expect. He was ranked fourth on our Red Sox prospects list, written by Ralph Lifshitz.
Ralph wrote about Mata’s refinement in the 2019 season, saying “Adding a cutter coming into the off-season, the pitch has become an essential weapon in Mata’s arsenal. He mixes a pair of fastball variations with a four-seamer in the 93-95 range and a two-seam variation in the 90-93 band. His curveball and cutter are his go to secondaries, with a fringe average mid-80s changeup mixed in for good measure.”
Mata throws from a lower release point, which seems to add value to the arsenal he presents. His biggest Achilles Heel is going to be command. That was present in this start.
So, let’s dive into to Pitcher Rewind, starring Bryan Mata.
Repertoire
Fastball
There isn’t much to show here. Frankly he only went to the four-seam/two-seam combo early in the start when his cutter was not working. And it wasn’t pretty. Hitters were all over these pitches. The early part of this game was a big struggle for Mata. The cutter kicked in around the end of the third inning and these pitches seemed to disappear from the plan, which was probably for the best.
He did throw a couple that caught the corner, or close to it, that showed what the pitch looked like.
That’s really all she wrote for the fastball. He went away from it, and it turned out to be a good thing.
Fastball Summary: The pitch was too hittable in this start. It didn’t fool anyone and he caught the big part of the plate too much with it. Outside of the two examples provided, it is fair to say it hurt more than helped. That’s not indicative of the overall performance of the pitch, necessarily. He leaned on it when his other pitches weren’t working. For about two and a half innings he had to rely on the fastball with an occasional curveball and didn’t have the command to succeed with it. If anything, I would say the pitch is like the rest of his arsenal where the success will be directly correlated to the success of his repertoire as a whole. It cannot stand alone.
Cutter
As Ralph pointed out, this was the pivotal pitch to Mata’s overall success. Early on, this pitch was all over the map. He reigned it in during the third inning and it was all systems go from there. He did get a few whiffs on this pitch, but overall it was great at creating weak contact when it was on. The turning point for Mata came on this cutter where he induced an inning ending double play.
This wasn’t the only time his cutter produced a weak grounder.
The part I really liked about this pitch is that he manipulated the shape of it. He was able to turn it into almost a slider at times. Varying that movement was helpful to him during this start.
Locating this pitch was the big battle for Mata during this start. Once he found the release point, he was able to throw some really nice cutters and it was used to get the Winston-Salem hitters off balance. That opened things up for the offspeed pitches to get whiffs.
This pitch has several different looks and can serve a few different purposes. At least it did in this start. This pitch was pretty clearly the most important to his repertoire.
Cutter Summary: Calling the cutter an essential weapon, as Ralph did, was the most accurate description possible. Mata battled the first two innings, but he showed the pitcher he can be once this cutter was in place. It opened up the rest of his arsenal, specifically the curveball and changeup, to get some really bad swings from the opposition. It was very apparent that on this day that he needed to pitch off of that cutter to have a good start. It couldn’t have been more night and day for struggling and dominating once this pitch started to do what Mata wanted.
Curveball
This was the go to secondary for Mata through much of the game. For a time, it was the only other pitch he threw besides a fastball. Early on he was able to spot it pretty well too, as evidenced by this on, taken for a strike on the inside corner to a righty.
He again used a show-me version of it to a lefty on an 0-0 count. This was his most consistent pitch throughout the game.
Then his arsenal opened up and he was able to use this as an out pitch. The hitters couldn’t read it, as evidenced by these two helpless hitters who flailed at breakers in a bad way.
Curveball Summary: This pitch is easily the biggest barometer of what happened when the cutter started to work. Those first two in the first couple innings were loopier and just used for strikes. Mata needed them to try and work his fastball as a primary pitch. Then the cutter happened and he could got tighter spin on the pitch. Whiff city. This is a good pitch. It’s good that he can use it in whatever count for whatever reason. Early in the start I was ready to tell you it was the the shining spot of the whole start, but by the end it became just another weapon. That is what Mata needs it to be. It’s a great pitch when he can use as an out pitch.
Changeup
The changeup rounds out Mata’s arsenal. This is where a one start sample size isn’t the most trustworthy thing. The report says he’ll mix this pitch in, but when Mata was rolling, this pitch was featured heavily. And it got a ton of whiffs. It’s fair to say he was feeling it on this day and it was at the upper echelon of the “fringe” evaluation. Again, one start, but it’s always fun to catch a good changeup day.
The pitch was essentially introduced when the fastball disappeared for the day. It can get some decent movement on it, as evidenced by this 0-0 offering.
After that pitch the changeup became the go to tool to get whiffs. I dubbed it the ‘Bittersweet Whiffmphony’ because it was great for Mata but so sad for the hitters. I have 4 whiff GIFs for you, and here are the first two.
This next one is special. This is when the symphony is hitting its full crescendo. The at bat was three changeups in a row ending in this swing and a miss. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight.
And now the a touch of artistry. The biggest swing and miss of the night. The batter that was most fooled. Whatever you want it call it, it’s the cherry on top and it sums up what happened once things started to work for Mata.
I mean, come on. That’s just amazing!
Changeup Summary: This game is probably the best his changeup will be. And it certainly played up because of his other pitches working. In this one start, this pitch turned into the fun one and arguably the focal point. I will still argue that was the cutter. But man this pitch was used well by Mata. It appeared when everything was rolling for him and it showed up in a big way. He tried one earlier in the start, and it wasn’t good. When it all clicked, the changeup was the biggest beneficiary of it all. It remains a fringe pitch, and this start is the perfect example of what can happen when it plays off the rest of his repertoire.
Final Thoughts
By now I can only imagine how tired you are of reading about how Mata’s pitches play off of each other. Still, it’s true. That’s what he has to do. The first two innings proved that beyond a reasonable doubt. Sure, he ended with seven strikeouts but he only had two through the first three innings. And that includes all three of his walks and a hit by pitch coming in those first three innings before the cutter came along.
The exact moment things game together was when he threw a cutter in the third inning that resulted in a groundball double play to end the inning. The video of that is above. That turning point is when he got five strikeouts over his final three innings and showed what Bryan Mata could be.
That cutter was the biggest pitch in this game. When he could work off that pitch, Winston-Salem couldn’t touch him. It was apparent that Mata will have minimal and sporadic success working off his fastballs. The cutter is going to be the driving force behind his game. It’s good to have that 4-seam/two-seam at the ready to complement the rest of his arsenal. I was really hoping to see him utilize it. But once his cutter kicked in he was content living with the cutter/curve/changeup mix. And why not, it worked exceedingly well.
In terms of upside, Ralph wrote that Mata could be a “Backend starter with the stuff to make it in a high-leverage relief role.”
I’ve found disagreeing with Ralph is usually not in my best interest because he’s really good at this. That said, I disagree with Ralph about Mata as a reliever.
The biggest factor in that is watching Mata struggle when his whole arsenal wasn’t there. I can’t sit here and tell you what pitch he would throw to get a whiff in a big moment. I don’t even know what he could throw to get a reliable out in that big moment. This isn’t an indictment of his ability, either. He is what he is, and I don’t think his stuff would play up enough in that role to support him as a reliever. When his whole repertoire is there and he can set up the opposition to be able to do something like throw three straight changeups for a strikeout, THAT is where I believe Mata is at his best.
This start was chosen because it provided a good camera angle to get a look at Mata’s stuff. It turned out to be a good barometer for what he is. There was inconsistency, but when he was on he was every bit as good as advertised. The addition of that cutter is remarkably important for Mata and that was apparent in this start. I’m confident in saying that he could be a really nice backend rotation arm in Boston.