SP Bryan Mata

Cesar Crespo

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SoSH Member
Dec 22, 2002
21,588
DOB: 5/3/99 Maracay, Venezuela
6'3 160lbs, Throws Right, Bats Right
Acquired as IFA in January 2016. Signed for $25,000.

In a year the Sox were limited on the IFA signings due to going over in previous years. it looks like Bryan Mata may end up being a pretty big haul. He has already shot up the prospect ranks and Soxprospects has him at 13th.

Signed as a lanky 6'3 130 pound kid, he has since put on 30 pounds of weight. Last year he was throwing 89-92 with late sinking movement. He has 3 pitches that project as average to plus and his velocity has room to go up a few ticks. I'm not sure what his velocity is sitting at this year yet.

His approach is very advanced for his age and because of this the Sox are being aggressive with him. After just turning 18 years old, he was assigned to Greenville.

He would make his debut on 5/26, with a line of 3 ip, 3h, 1er, 2bb/4k. 69 pitches 40 strikes His next 2 games:

6ip, 4 h, 1er, 2bb/6k 81 pitches, 53 strikes
6ip, 4 h, 1er, 1bb/6k 80 pitches, 53 strikes

For the year he is now at 15ip with 16k/5bb and a 1.07 WHIP. Batters are hitting .200 off of him so far. Those last 2 games were mirror images of each other.

As a prospect he ranks somewhere between Anderson Espinoza and Roniel Raudes, which is a huge range. Of course any 18 year old pitcher is going to have a huge range but especially Mata since his ceiling largely depends on his physical growth and maturation. 6'3 130 pounds is vastly underweight. Right now, he's looking like a middle rotation guy but that could easily change if his velocity improves a tick or two and/or on how his command and control develop. If all goes right, he could be a guy that sneaks into the Redsox top 5 as soon as the end of this season. He could also easily never make it out of A ball.


Edit: Mata made his Greenville debut 6 days younger than Espinoza.
 
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Cesar Crespo

79
SoSH Member
Dec 22, 2002
21,588
Made his first start in 16 days last night. 5ip, 6 h, 2er, 1 HRA, 1bb/5k. 76 pitches/53 strikes. Dude throws strikes.

Year to date: 5 starts, 2.08 era, 26.0ip, 2 HRA, 6bb/25k. Hitters slashing .223/.270/.340 on a .284 BAbip. K rate of 24.8%, BB rate of 5.9%.

So far, he is pitching better than Anderson Espinoza was at the same level despite being 2 months younger.
 

Cesar Crespo

79
SoSH Member
Dec 22, 2002
21,588
He made his first bad start on 7/2, going 4.1ip with 10 hits, 6er, 1bb/2k. He bounced right back to his robot self his next 2 starts

5.0ip, 1h, 1bb/5k
5.0ip, 2h, 2bb/4k.

For the year, 2.68 era in 8 starts, 40.1ip, 1.091 whip, 36k/10bb, .230/.283/.324 on a .284 BAbip.

He also jumped all the way to 6th on Soxprospects.com. He was 16th a month ago.
 

Quintanariffic

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Apr 23, 2002
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The City of Studios
Per the latest SoxProspects podcast, they've also been getting very positive scouting reviews on his performance from the contacts they've developed. Has so much helium they said he may be a guy who is in the top 3-4 by end of year.
 

section15

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Mar 23, 2007
227
Bradford, MA and section 15
[
TJ surgery a week after they have him resume throwing?
Probably there was an attempt to see if the injury wasn't severe enough to require the surgery. Just conjecture but he probably tried throwing, it didn't work.

You don't want to face that reality - but - it is what it is. Do it now, sooner than later, and go forward.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Aug 1, 2001
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More on why they did the operation when they did:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/14/sports/bryan-mata-red-sox-top-pitching-prospect-undergoes-tommy-john-surgery/

Mata, 21, suffered a slight tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right pitching elbow in early March and recently began a throwing program to determine whether he could avoid the procedure. Once he started throwing on flat ground, it took little time to determine that he could not.
“When he progressed to the stage of throwing the baseball, it became clear pretty quickly that he wasn’t going to be able to progress without some discomfort,” said Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. “At that point, surgery became necessary.
“Any time you have any kind of injury with the UCL, you know that a return is not a sure thing. We were optimistic when we started his progression as he progressed into throwing, but we also knew that if he wasn’t able to go through the throwing program without discomfort that surgery might be necessary.
“The silver lining here is that it didn’t take terribly long to figure that out before the decision was made.

“It’s unfortunate. It’s obviously a lot of down time and a long road back, but we’re going to continue to be able to help Bryan get there.”

This is a tough blow for Mata, who will miss all of 2021 and likely a chunk of next season. Taking into account last year’s minor league season that was lost as a result of COVID-19, that could be nearly three years without game competition for a pitcher who is still developing.