Crawford makes his 10th start later this week, it will mark just the second time since 1993 that two Red Sox rookies have made double-digit starts in a season. Winckowski has started 11 games.
“I’m watching those guys,” Bryan Mata said Sunday through teammate and translator Oddanier Mosqueda.
Could Mata be the next young pitcher to start for Boston?
The 23-year-old righty’s high ceiling has become a somewhat forgotten storyline because he missed the entire 2021 season and the first two months of 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. But his stuff is right up there with Bello’s.
He reached 100 mph with his fastball during an extended spring training game in May.
Mata, who is on the 40-man roster, has increased both his two-seam fastball and slider usage since returning. He’s described as “sinker and slider heavy” but he also elevates his four-seam fastball. He also still mixes in a curveball and changeup like he did before surgery.
Sixteen months after Tommy John surgery, Mata has a 2.45 ERA and 1.20 WHIP while holding opponents to a .200 batting average in eight games (seven starts) for Double-A Portland. He has 42 strikeouts and 18 walks in 36 ⅔ innings.
Baseball America ranks him Boston’s No. 2 pitching prospect behind only Bello. He’s ranked the organization’s No. 7 prospect overall ahead of fellow pitchers Chris Murphy (No. 8), Brandon Walter (No. 9), Winckowski (No. 11), Wikelman Gonzalez (No. 14), Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (No. 17), Seabold (No. 23), Thaddeus Ward (No. 25) and Shane Drohan (No. 27).
It has been a long road for Mata who said back during spring training 2020 that his goal was to pitch in the majors that season. Mata probably would have made his big league debut at some point last year if he had stayed healthy.
He certainly will help out the 2023 Red Sox but he’s not ruling out pitching for Boston down the stretch this season.
“Yeah, I think I can have the opportunity,” Mata said. “I have to keep doing what I’m doing, following what they say to be consistent.”
His main focus right now remains on his development. He looks at it as a process, not a sprint to the big leagues.
“It’s something good the organization has given an opportunity to the young guys,” Mata said. “If I get the opportunity, I’m going to take it. But I’m not thinking about it right now.”
Baseball America wrote entering 2022, “Mata featured huge stuff prior to surgery, starting with a mid-to upper-90s two-seamer and nasty, plus slider that darts out of the same tunnel. Both produced ground balls and swings-and-misses and largely kept batters in check on their own.”
Triple-A Worcester pitching coach Paul Abbott said in 2020, “I can’t say enough on this kid. He’s as exciting, I think, as anybody in baseball. Top-shelf fastball, top-shelf slider. Curveball is above average. The changeup, too. It’s hard to squeeze all those pitches in when the first two are so dynamic.”
He still has the dynamic fastball and slider.
Mata said his two-seamer usage has increased post surgery. He has even had “improved velo,” MassLive.com was told.
“I’m using more of my two seamer now because they want me to throw it more in games,” Mata said.
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He also understands himself better as a pitcher now than before he underwent surgery.
“I was kind of immature,” he said. “I grew up a little bit. I kind of understand more of the game. … Know the counts and if this pitch is perfect for that count. Read the hitters.”
What went through the righty’s mind when he reached 100 mph in May?
“I was kind of surprised,” he said.
He didn’t expect the velo to return as soon as it did.
“It was something cool because I never saw 100 before. Just after Tommy John. So it was something that impressed me,” he said.
But he was never worried about velo returning to its pre-surgery level.
“The velocity was never important for me,” Mata said. “I just wanted to be back and be healthy.”
He said he’s so grateful to be pitching again because he had his doubts when he underwent surgery whether he would be able to even return.
“Now in the spot I am right now, being healthy and doing what I’m doing, I’m just so thankful,” he said.
Mata is listed at 6-foot-3, 238 pounds but he said about the weight, “That was three years ago.”
He’s slimmed down to 230 pounds and has the physical build of a prototypical workhorse starting pitcher.
“(Justin) Verlander and Félix Hernández are the two I always watched,” he said.
Mata is built similarly to both Verlander (6-5, 235 pounds) and Hernández (6-3, 220 pounds) and it should be interesting to see if he eventually can turn into a workhorse type with Tommy John surgery in the rearview mirror.
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Mata has struck out 28% of the batters he has faced at Portland this year. He has a 30% strikeout percentage overall between his outings in Portland and his rehab starts in Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville. But he’s also averaging 4.4 walks per nine innings at Portland.
Command has always been something that needs improvement. He needs to cut down on the walks to remain a starter.
“Just finish the pitches and concentrate, and then I’ll have the command to throw the pitches where I want,” he said.