Twins’ Zebby Matthews, whose accuracy made him a rocket riser in the minors, finally savors his success

FORT MYERS, FLA. – The “welcome to the big leagues” moment arrived for Zebby Matthews during the first road trip he took with the Twins to San Diego.

He pitched at Petco Park in front of an announced crowd of 40,220. The 24-year-old righthander faced Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, two hitters he grew up watching as a kid in North Carolina. He marveled that he wasn’t even in high school when Machado starred for the Baltimore Orioles.

Except the pinch-me part of it came before he took the mound.

“You go from riding on the buses in the minor leagues to you’re on the plane, and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is nuts,’ ” Matthews said. “The hotels are different.”

It wasn’t until a few weeks at home during the offseason, talking with his wife and some friends, that Matthews started to recognize the unique year he had. He started the season in Class A Advanced Cedar Rapids, and he was one of the fastest-rising prospects in the sport.

In the minor leagues, he had a 2.60 ERA in 97 innings with 114 strikeouts and seven walks.

“I was telling people during TwinsFest that I did a terrible job of realizing the year that I had,” Matthews said, laughing. “When I was in Minneapolis, I was in compete mode. I wanted to do everything I could to help the team. Some starts were great. Some starts were awful. You’re riding that roller coaster, and I couldn’t really get my mind off anything else.”

There are reminders of how quickly Matthews advanced through the Twins’ farm system. This is his first big-league camp. Walking into the major league clubhouse at the club’s spring training complex was different. Besides playing games at Hammond Stadium for the Class A affiliate two years ago, he always worked out on the minor league side.

Until he pitched two scoreless innings in Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener against Atlanta, which was his favorite team growing up, he never pitched in a big-league spring training game.

He joked with a coach and a staffer Friday morning they didn’t even know his name a year ago.

“Obviously, being able to throw to big-league hitters in spring training versus High-A hitters is a big difference,” said Matthews, who is listed at 6-5 and 225 pounds.

Matthews, an eighth-round pick in the 2022 MLB amateur draft, introduced himself last year when he went seven starts before issuing his first walk. It was a 141-batter streak with zero free passes, striking out 49 batters in that span.

“It was ridiculous,” said pitching prospect Andrew Morris, who was teammates with Matthews at multiple levels. “I do remember when he did walk the first guy. We couldn’t believe it. We thought it would go on forever.”

After Matthews rocketed through minor league levels, the Twins rushed him to the majors out of necessity when they lost pitchers Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack to injuries.

There were some special memories. Morris, his roommate once they both reached Class AAA St. Paul, watched as Matthews studied the Kansas City Royals’ scouting report before his debut. The two pitchers laughed as they looked at Bobby Witt Jr.’s hot and cold zones, and it was essentially all red for one of the league’s best hitters.

Matthews, fittingly, collected his first major league strikeout against Witt. When he returned to his apartment afterward, Morris immediately told him with glee that he was featured on Pitching Ninja, the popular social media account that features clips of the nastiest pitches.

“That was so sick,” Morris said. “Just so cool. It was awesome to see it firsthand, really.”

Not everything went the way Matthews hoped. He compiled a 1-4 record and a 6.69 ERA across nine starts. He spent the offseason fine-tuning his changeup because his locations on the pitch were “atrocious” last year, experimenting with different grips. He finally found one he liked about three weeks before camp started.

He thought he could’ve done a better job handling the mental side of pitching, and he likely will start the upcoming season in St. Paul to gain experience against advanced-level hitters.

“We talk about his command all the time as a real weapon,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It was not as good in the big leagues as it was his entire career coming up. We firmly believe that it’s still elite and it’s something that he does really well. Reclaiming that against high-end hitters will be important and a good first step.”

The Twins want Matthews to have more intent on pitches he throws for strikes. The hitters knew all his pitches would be around the strike zone. In 37⅔ innings in the majors, he issued only 11 walks, but he surrendered 11 home runs.

Few players have sped through the minor leagues like Matthews did last year. Once that settled in, reminded by family and friends, it only motivated him further.

“They’re all really proud of me and really happy for me,” he said. “That kind of gave me a chance to look back on the year and be like, OK, what I did was awesome. It was everything I dreamed of. But the work doesn’t stop, so keep at it.”