Daniel Zebulon Matthews is putting up outrageous numbers in the Minnesota Twins’ farm system this season. Or rather not putting them up.
The guy seems to have been born under a "Don't Walk" sign.
Matthews, seeking to become the first player called Zebby in Major League history, has walked two batters all year in the minors. That’s really nothing new for the 24-year-old from Cullowhee, NC. He’s issued only 17 free passes in 153 2/3 innings as a professional.
Despite standing a robust 6-5 and 225 pounds, Matthews almost went unnoticed at Western Carolina for three seasons. The Catamounts went just 62-60 over that time. Matthews had a respectable 13-9 record and 3.49 earned run average. In 183 1/3 innings, he fanned 211 – but walked only 30.
That caught the eye of Twins scouts. Minnesota took a chance on him in the eighth round with the 234th pick overall in the 2022 draft. He got $125,000 to sign.
That investment looks great so far for Minnesota. Matthews has an 11-4 record and 3.10 ERA in 32 pro games, 28 of them starts. He has yielded only 128 hits and fanned 173. He fanned 49 this season before issuing his first walk.
MiLB.com contributor Joe Trezza compared that to the best in the majors since the distance between the mound and home plate was changed in 1894. He found that Corbin Burnes holds the record for most strikeouts without a walk to open a big-league season at 58 for the 2021 Milwaukee Brewers.
MORE FOR YOU
Matthews does not have Burnes’ electric arsenal of pitches, though he has added some oomph to his fastball. He was considered a soft-tosser projected as a possible long-inning relief man. That outlook has changed since his heater improved from 90-92 mph to topping out at 95-96. That has helped him get more strikeouts with a good slider and developing cutter. The key has been throwing strikes with all of them.
Matthews has work to do. It won’t be a walk in the park, though Matthews appears to have it all under command for the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge. He began 2024 at High-A Cedar Rapids and in eight starts overall has a 4-1 record, 1.59 ERA and 55 strikeouts to those two walks allowed.
Strike-Throwers Succeed
Ask any pitching coach and he’ll insist that the best pitch you can throw is strike one. Commanding the strike zone has been the key to success for ages. Here’s a look at pitchers who have done this the best over the past 100 years.
Fewest walks per nine innings since 1920 among pitchers with 1,500 innings or more pitched (Hall of Famers listed in bold italics):
Grover Cleveland Alexander (1911-30), 1.31
Bob Tewksbury (1986-98), 1.45
Red Lucas (1923-38), 1.61
Brad Radke (1995-06), 1.63
Bret Saberhagen (1984-01), 1.65
Rick Reed (1988-03), 1.66
Tiny Bonham (1940-49), 1.67
Jon Lieber (1994-08), 1.73
Greg Maddux (1986-08), 1.73
Fritz Peterson (1966-76), 1.73
Robin Roberts (1948-66), 1.73
Pete Donohue (1921-32), 1.80
Carl Hubbell (1928-43), 1.82
Juan Marichal (1960-75), 1.82
Lew Burdette (1950-67), 1.84
The year 1920 is used as a starting point as that is when a livelier ball was put into play, offense improved, and pitchers began to work a bit off the strike zone to try and get batters to chase a bad pitch. Until then, it was easier to retire a hitter by placing a scuffed, deadened ball over the plate and let them whale away because it was not going to go far. So walks were fewer.
Before that for example, Hall of Famer Ed Walsh won both games of a doubleheader and allowed only one walk for the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 29, 1908. Alexander matched that twice with the Philadelphia Phillies, on Sept. 23, 1916 and again on Sept. 3, 1917.
Early in his career, Alexander was a hard-throwing wild man. He twice walked more than 100 and fanned 200 or more three times in his first seven seasons. Over his final 10 years, he fanned more than 70 only twice and never walked more than 38 in a year.
Recent Control Freaks
Carlos Silva of the 2005 Minnesota Twins walked only nine over a remarkable 188 1/3 innings. He struck out 71 but achieved only a 9-8 record and 3.44 ERA.
Last season, George Kirby walked 6 over 62 1/3 innings for the Seattle Mariners. In 2020, the Mariners’ Marco Gonzales walked 7 in 69 2/3 innings. Kyle Hendricks walked 8 over 81 1/3 innings for the 2020 Chicago Cubs.
From 1988 thru 1992, relief ace Dennis Eckersley was in another universe for the Oakland Athletics. He walked 38 and struck out 378 in 359 2/3 innings. He had a 24-9 record, 1.90 ERA and 220 saves over that span -- a huge reason why he is in the Hall of Fame.
If Not For Guys Named Bubba …
In 1962, journeyman Bill Fischer pitched an MLB record 84 1/3 consecutive innings without issuing a walk for the Kansas City Athletics. That broke the mark of 68 innings set by Hall of Fame great Christy Mathewson in 1913 for the New York Giants.
Fischer walked 8 over 127 1/3 innings that year. The right-hander, who started 78 of his 281 career games, never had such control over eight other years and four clubs total between 1956 and 1964.
When Atlanta Braves great Greg Maddux approached his record in 2001, he jokingly told Dick Scanlon of the New York Times, “I’m going to send him a voo-doo doll.
“I’m not rooting against him. If somebody's going to break it, you want a pitcher like him and not one like me. He's one of the best in baseball. But he ain't broke it, yet."
Maddux was stopped at 72 1/3 innings.
The most remarkable part of Fischer’s performance was that his streak started and ended between walks to hitters nicknamed Bubba. Fischer walked Bubba Phillips of the Cleveland Indians, then worked eight innings without a free pass in a 1-0 loss on Aug. 3. Thirteen games and 58 days later, he walked Bubba Morton of the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a 6-1 loss on Sept. 30.
During that time, his record went from 2-2 to 4-12.
Don’t try and make sense of some things in baseball. Relax and ... take a walk.
