Quinn
Mathews

If there has been one fourth-year college pitcher that is a lock (barring injury, of course) to become a future big leaguer that I’ve seen this spring, it’s Mathews. Not that he will become an All-Star type of performer, but as one who will reach the Major League level and contribute meaningful innings, my money is on this southpaw. With big-time competitiveness, enough stuff (91-93 fastball, 80-82 breaking ball, 79-91 changeup) and a top of the charts grade for knowing how to use it, Mathews has sliced and diced to a 2.60 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 69.1 innings pitched this spring. There’s also funk and good deception to the 6-foot-5 left-handers crossbody delivery making all of his stuff play up, including his best pitch slurve. Expect Mathews to hear his name called around the third to fourth round.

Matthews was arguably one of the top lefties in the state coming into the summer and he solidified that feeling again today. He's seen an uptick in velocity since I saw in the spring where he was 84-87 as he was 88-90 today with lots of run to the arm side. His velocity on his other pitches - curveball and changeup - has maintained where they were but his command of both has improved. While his curveball can be loose he manages to keep it down as it drops out of this hitting zone. His changeup has a whole lot of life as it enters the hitting zone and fades away from righties. The Stanford commit made a strong case for himself today.

Stanford commit. 6-foot-3, 165-pound long, lean, athletic, wiry strong frame with lots of room for future growth. Mathews, the 17th ranked player in the state and 168th overall in the 2019 class, was on from the first pitch of his start as he took a no-hitter into the 6th inning. For the first few innings the southpaw showed a fastball that had movement that sat 84-86 mph and touched 87 mph several times. The pitch generated nice downhill plane from his over-the-top delivery. It at times was straight, especially when he took something off it. In the 4th inning he threw three true cutters - one that moved about a foot into a righty - leaving scouts in the stands very intrigued. The pitch was 83-85 mph and garnered three swing-and-misses. Mathews features a deceptive changeup with tilt at 76-77 mph that garnered several swing-and-misses. His curveball it tight and sharp with downer break deep in the hitting zone at 70-73 mph. With a clean and repeatable delivery, Mathews arm action and consistent slot really projects for increased velocity once his body fills out. It appears there's a lot of effort to his delivery because of his head jerk, but when you watch closely you see that there isn't much effort at all. Mathews lands with a closed front toe to the hitter before his loose, whippy arm comes through which tends to snap back after release.