The Minnesota Twins have brought one top prospect to Target Field already this season. Brooks Lee may not be the only player to experience that jump. The latest entrant in the MLB Pipeline top 100 now puts the Twins system in a league of their own.
Zebby Matthews is Minnesota Twins’ latest top 100 entrant
When the 2024 season started Zebby Matthews was assigned to High-A Cedar Rapids. An eighth round pick from the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft, Matthews has seen a meteoric rise. The Twins right-handed pitching prospect owns a 1.95 ERA across 83 innings this season. That production becomes even more impressive when noting his 97/6 K/BB rate. For his efforts, he has now been included as the 100th best prospect in the game.
The Twins have done well to find later round pitchers with key development traits. Both Cory Lewis and C.J. Culpepper fit into this mold, but Matthews has blitzed by both. The MLB Pipeline scouting report is glowing as well.
“ Like with his late-round counterparts, Matthews’ stuff started to tick upwards, starting with a fastball that now sits around 94 mph and was up to 97 mph during his first full year. While none of his secondary offerings jump off the page, he now has four additional arrows in his quiver. The best of them is now his above-average cutter, typically in the upper-80s, that has traditional hard slider feel to it, but he also has a low-80s sweeper and he can also fold in a slower curve, something he did more of when he got to High-A. The changeup has been the last thing to come, but he’s been working on a splitter to give him a viable option against lefties.
Matthews has the best command in the system and walked just 1.3 per nine in 2023 after leaving Western Carolina with a 1.5/9 walk rate. He missed fewer bats and got hit a bit more when he moved one rung up the ladder. There’s a limited ceiling here, but some adjustments to his pitch mix and usage could help him continue moving up and landing as a back-end starter in the big leagues. “
Recently promoted to Triple-A, Matthews worked five innings and allowed just two runs in his Saints debut. With David Festa currently on the big league roster, and Louie Varland having struggled, Matthews could be a late-season consideration.
Related: Bleacher Report REALLY Loves the Minnesota Twins Farm System
Minnesota Twins one of three with six top 100 prospects
Minnesota currently has six prospects among MLB Pipeline’s top 100. Walker Jenkins(5), Brooks Lee(13), Emmanuel Rodriguez(26), David Festa(87), Luke Keaschall(92), and Matthews(100) are all present. Both Keaschall and Matthews have been included this season due to graduations and their own performance.
Related: Minnesota Twins Prospects Soar in Latest Rankings
Only the Seattle Mariners(6) and Chicago Cubs(7) have at least that many prospects among the top 100. Both lack the top end talent that Minnesota has however. The Cubs top prospect, Cade Horton, checks in at 17th overall. Seattle lands Cole Young at 22nd. The Twins ability to currently employ both top-end talent and depth is a credit to their draft strategy and developmental process.
It would be a relative surprise to see any of the six top prospects dealt in the coming days. While the Minnesota Twins will be buyers at the trade deadline, nothing they are likely to add will cost this much. A mix of infield, outfield, and pitching talents, sets the Twins up well for future roster construction.
More must-reads:
The post Minnesota Twins New Top Prospect Puts System in Rarefied Air appeared first on MinnesotaSportsFan .
Local Minneapolis, MN
Most Popular
Comments / 0