Tag Archives: Matzek

Sports

Braves Sign Tyler Matzek To Two-Year Contract

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The Braves announced that they have signed lefty Tyler Matzek to a two-year deal worth $3.1MM. There’s also a $5.5MM club option for 2025 with no buyout. He’ll make $1.2MM in the first year and $1.9MM in the second, according to Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Matzek had Tommy John surgery in October and will likely miss the entire 2023 season.

Matzek, 32, has been a feel-good story in recent years, as he was away from baseball for a while due to “the yips.” He pitched for the Rockies in 2014 and 2015 but then dealt with control problems so bad that he was relegated to the minors for chunks of the 2016-2019 period, including missing the 2017 season entirely and pitching in indy ball in 2018. He eventually made his way back to the majors and established himself as a useful piece of the Atlanta bullpen. From 2020 to the present, he’s thrown 135 2/3 innings with a 2.92 ERA, 38.2% ground ball rate and 27.4% strikeout rate, despite a high 13.4% walk rate.

Unfortunately, his story hit a snag at the end of this season, as he was left off the club’s NLDS roster due to elbow discomfort. The next day, it was announced that he would require Tommy John surgery. Given the typical 12-18 months required to recover from such a procedure, Matzek will almost certainly miss the entire 2023 campaign.

He went into this winter with just over four years of MLB service time, meaning he still had two more years of club control via the arbitration process. Given the lengthy absence he’s facing, Atlanta could have considered non-tendering him before tonight’s deadline, but they have instead agreed to a contract that will cover both his remaining arb seasons and potentially one free agent year as well. Matzek made $1.4MM in 2022 and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, prior to the Tommy John news, for a bump to $1.8MM. Atlanta will pay Matzek around the same rate he got in 2022 and won’t get anything for that investment in 2023 but could see it pay off down the line. For Matzek, it’s possible that he could have found a somewhat similar deal in free agency, as teams occasionally give two-year deals to injured pitchers even when they know they won’t be healthy for the first one. But he’s decided to stick with an organization he knows, continuing to earn a paycheck while rehabbing with the knowledge that he has a job waiting for him once he’s healthy.



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Atlanta Braves to place reliever Tyler Matzek on IL with shoulder discomfort

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Braves left-handed reliever Tyler Matzek, one of the bullpen stalwarts during Atlanta’s World Series run last year, will be placed on the 10-day injured list because of discomfort in his pitching shoulder.

The Braves announced the injury to Matzek after Monday’s loss to the Brewers and will make the roster move before Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee.

Matzek, who will undergo an examination Wednesday in Atlanta, told reporters that he began experiencing the shoulder discomfort two or three weeks ago. He cited back soreness during spring training as a possible reason for the latest injury.

“It was probably two weeks or three weeks [ago] that my shoulder started feeling uncomfortable,” Matzek said Monday, according to MLB.com. “I think I was just compensating for the lack of mobility in my back. I felt good trying to get through the back [injury]. I think it just spiraled into another thing.”

The hard-throwing Matzek has a 5.06 ERA in 13 appearances this season and has struggled with his control, allowing nine walks in 10⅔ innings. He was one of Atlanta’s top relievers last season, when he posted a 2.57 ERA in 69 outings, and was dominant during the postseason, going 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 15⅔ innings.

Braves manager Brian Snitker said rookie Spencer Strider will assume a more prominent role in Atlanta’s bullpen during Matzek’s absence. Strider tossed two scoreless innings Monday, lowering his ERA to 2.75.

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Sports

Why did a police officer grab Tyler Matzek during the Braves parade? We got answers – WSB-TV Channel 2

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COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A local police department is sticking up for its officer over a confrontation with a Braves player during the victory parade on Friday.

Braves pitcher Tyler Matzek was running through the street, celebrating the team’s big World Series win when a Marietta police officer grabbed him and forced his hand behind his back. The video has since gone viral.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden talked to police about the odd encounter. Police wanted to make it clear that the officer was not trying to arrest Matzek.

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A spokesman said that around the same time the Braves pitcher was running down a stretch of Cobb Parkway, there were also some unruly fans trying to reach the players riding in the parade.

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Kevin Bartz saw the whole event happen and said he felt bad for Matzek.

“I’m just like, ‘I can’t believe they’re giving a player c–p for this right now,” Bartz said.

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He said moments before, he and his sister were watching Matzek run down the street giving high-fives to the hometown crowd.

“And then all of a sudden, he’s literally right in front of me being escorted and grabbed and pushed by a Marietta police officer,” Bartz said.

Officer Chuck McPhilamy with the Marietta Police Department defended the officer.

“Certainly the rest of the world assumed that we were trying to arrest someone,” McPhilamy said. “There were no arrests that were made during the parade .”

McPhilamy said that what you don’t see in the video are several fans dressed in white Braves jerseys wandering onto the parade route and attempting to high-five the players.

There was also confusion because police were told all players would wear credentials.

“Our officer starts to walk him off from the parade route and in that moment, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the credentials,” McPhilamy said. “And once that moment happens, both are incredibly embarrassed.”

Matzek defended the officer’s actions on social media, writing, “Officer was just doing his job trying to keep the team safe.”

Marietta Police said what is so ironic about the situation is that the officer is a huge Braves fan and would have loved to meet Matzek — just not under these circumstances.

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