Here Comes Zebby: Twins Hottest Pitching Prospect Reaches Triple-A

[Nick Nelson]

On Tuesday the Twins announced that they've promoted ascendant pitching prospect Zebby Matthews to Triple-A, putting the 24-year-old on the doorstep of the majors, with a clear path to making a late-season impact in the majors. Here's what you need to know.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

It's been quite a season so far for right-hander Daniel Zebulon (Zebby) Matthews, who ranked 20th in Twins Daily's preseason prospect rankings. After posting a combined 1.85 ERA between Single-A and Double-A, he's now been promoted to Triple-A St. Paul -- his second promotion of the season, putting him in position to potentially play a role for the Twins staff in the second half. 

Zebby Matthews has a good argument for being the best pitching prospect in the Twins system at this point. Certainly names like David Festa, Marco Raya and Charlee Soto are also in that conversation, but none have posted numbers anywhere like Matthews has this season: a 91-to-6 strikeout-to-walk with just three home runs allowed in 78 innings. Baseball America, in their latest top prospects update, has Matthews ranked 54th in all of baseball, and the top Twins pitcher. 

 

That's because Matthews's numbers are backed up by tremendously impressive raw stuff, which has advanced dramatically since he was drafted in the eighth round out of Western Carolina University in 2022. His deep arsenal features a fastball now routinely registering in the 96 MPH range, touching 99. The ability to throw that kind of heat while constantly being in the zone is rare, and it's why the well built 6-foot-5, 225 lb righty has been garnering all kinds of attention.

"You’d be hard-pressed to find a pitcher with better command than Matthews, who didn’t walk a batter in 2024 until his seventh start of the season," per Baseball America. "Matthews is an arrow-up prospect who’s showing legitimate stuff. His fastball sits mid 90s with plus vertical ride, mixing a cutter, slider, changeup and curveball."

 

Now he'll have a chance to showcase his game at the highest level of the minors, and in a very tough pitching environment. It's a big opportunity for Matthews, who can make a bid for a late-season promotion to the big leagues with a strong showing. Depending on how they handle the deadline, the Twins could be looking for impact additions from within as they prep themselves for a pennant push. 

That could mean Matthews factoring in at some point as a starter, but a debut as a reliever might make even more sense, enabling the young hurler to keep his innings in check while being used in tightly controlled matchups in the majors. With the way he's throwing, Matthews could be a key short-term asset out of the bullpen especially if he sees anything resembling a Louie Varland-esque boost in stuff. I think back to 2019 when the Twins aggressively called up Brusdar Graterol for the last month of the season to have him available in the playoffs.

Obviously, I'm putting the cart ahead of the horse here, but it's the kind of situation worth monitoring as we turn our attention to the second half and the stretch run. Now that's earned his way to Triple-A, Zebby Matthews is firmly in the mix to reach the big leagues at any time.

Learn more about Matthews:

• Twins Daily's Zebby Matthews Prospect Profile: Featuring a brief scouting report and monthly splits.
• Twins Daily's Zebby Matthews Draft Profile: Recapping scouting reports and signing data from when he selected back in 2022.
• Heads Up: The Twins have a Pitching Prospect Making The Leap: Certified prospect head Jamie Cameron wrote about Matthews's promotion to Double-A back in May. "He’s certainly showing the type of improvement and development you want to see in a future big-league arm."

Share your thoughts on the promotion! What's your take on Zebby Matthews and his legitimacy as a prospect? Could an MLB debut be in the cards this year?

 

View full article

[Schmoeman5]

Didn't he get rocked in his last start? Every one has bad days. K/BB rate is crazy good. Hope it carries over to St. Paul. Good job and good luck. Bighat will be calling for promotion before July ends 

[High heat]

He should spend the rest of the yr starting at AAA.  
 

He is the only guy in the system with top of the rotation stuff.  For service time purposes he should be kept at AAA for the season and to start next yr.  If he puts up similar #s he has a spot in May ‘25

 

If you wanna bullpen arm starters you have Varland and Festa.  We already know Varland can do it and Festa looked good both starts the first time though the line up.

[Dave The Dastardly]

Glad to see the move. It was getting to the point where the FO couldn't find an excuse for keeping this kid down on the farm. Had to give Zebby a shot at Triple A or risk major embarrassment. I mean it's not like the Twins couldn't use another arm ready and waiting in St. Paul before this season's over.

[Walser]

48 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Didn't he get rocked in his last start? Every one has bad days. K/BB rate is crazy good. Hope it carries over to St. Paul. Good job and good luck. Bighat will be calling for promotion before July ends 

It was his worst start, but he still only allowed 1 ER and 2 hits. So it only feels like he got rocked because we've come to expect a lot from him.

[Walser]

Based on what I've seen I'm more confident in Zebby than any other pitching prospect since maybe Berrios. Really excited to see how his stuff plays in the majors.

[darwin22]

1 hour ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Didn't he get rocked in his last start? Every one has bad days. K/BB rate is crazy good. Hope it carries over to St. Paul. Good job and good luck. Bighat will be calling for promotion before July ends 

No----he did NOT get rocked in his last start as I was in Springfield last Tuesday to see him pitch.  Matthews allowed 1 ER in 3 IP with 4 K's and 2 walks over that span.  Yes, his shortest outing of the season, but that was dictated by Springfield extending him to a 37-pitch 3rd inning.  Matthews was dominant in his first 2 IP striking out three on only 23 pitches.  The only ER he allowed was on a seeing eye ground ball single to Tommy Edman (on rehab) on a 0-2 count.  The other 2 runs were unearned as a 2-out ground ball was butchered for an error.  Matthews has easily leapfrogged Raya, imo, in our SP ranks.  

[tony&rodney]

Matthews has been a must see in his starting assignments. A promotion to AAA just turns up the level of attention. Folks will now be dissecting his every start. Talent plays and if Zebby can deliver consistently as he has coming up through the system the dream will be real.

[JD-TWINS]

20 minutes ago, darwin22 said:

No----he did NOT get rocked in his last start as I was in Springfield last Tuesday to see him pitch.  Matthews allowed 1 ER in 3 IP with 4 K's and 2 walks over that span.  Yes, his shortest outing of the season, but that was dictated by Springfield extending him to a 37-pitch 3rd inning.  Matthews was dominant in his first 2 IP striking out three on only 23 pitches.  The only ER he allowed was on a seeing eye ground ball single to Tommy Edman (on rehab) on a 0-2 count.  The other 2 runs were unearned as a 2-out ground ball was butchered for an error.  Matthews has easily leapfrogged Raya, imo, in our SP ranks.  

Looks like he’s leap frogged him in the FO’s opinion as well!!

[Dman]

One step closer to helping the MLB club.  With Zebby not slowing down at AA it makes a ton of sense to move him to AAA.  He doesn't have control issue's and his stuff didn't back up at AA.  There isn't anything he needs to work on at AA that he can't or won't be at AAA.

 

[JD-TWINS]

VERY encouraging!!…….great news.

Seems that after another 5-6 starts (25-30 innings) they’ll have a really good feel for where he’s at relative to being competitive in the Show……can always give him more time but if he’s successful at AAA level there’s no reason not to try him out in September with the big club. Very probable they will all need a break or an additional day of rest a couple times.

Look forward to checking back in 3-4 weeks to see how he’s doing.

With success, I like the idea of keeping innings down and using him in relief the last 2-3 weeks of the season.

[Steve Lein]

2 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Didn't he get rocked in his last start? Every one has bad days. K/BB rate is crazy good. Hope it carries over to St. Paul. Good job and good luck. Bighat will be calling for promotion before July ends 

No, he did not get "rocked." One iffy inning against a good hitting team (they led the league in avg./OBP, and had the fewest strikeouts) where his pitch count got ran into the high 30's, which means any pitcher's game is over.

If not for a squibbed grounder against a shifted infield (I mentioned in the comments of the MiLB report that night it was one of the worst swings I'd ever seen), he'd have been fine. He did walk two guys (in one inning!), though... 😉

[mark sills]

Glad they promoted him well deserved. Ive enjoyed watching Zebby and Andrew Morris compete for promotions. Hopefully Andrew follows.

 

[stringer bell]

Good for Matthews and (I think) good for the organization. I will believe he is ready to help the Twins if he has continued success with the Saints. I'm not sold on Varland in the bullpen either. The sample size is too small to guarantee he can come up and dominate major league hitters. 

[wabene]

Welcome to the bandbox in the International League, Zebulon. Good luck man.

[Fatbat]

3 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Didn't he get rocked in his last start? Every one has bad days. K/BB rate is crazy good. Hope it carries over to St. Paul. Good job and good luck. Bighat will be calling for promotion before July ends 

Probably wasn't rocked. Pitched 3 innings, 49 pitches, 4 K’s, 2 hits, 2 bb 1 earned run. 

[Fatbat]

Awesome news for the org and Zebby!! Coming into this season, I thought Raya would be this guy but Zebby it is! Home grown and developed ! Nothing better than that.

[Alex Wilde]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Looks like he’s leap frogged him in the FO’s opinion as well!!

I mean Raya is still 21. I don’t get the pitch count limit but they still have very high hopes for him.

[wabene]

Zebby's innings pitched the last 3 years are 95, then 105 last year and 78 so far this year. This is not some string bean trying to ramp up, the guy looks like a horse. It will be interesting to see how his command plays with the tight box in the International League.

[gil4]

4 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Didn't he get rocked in his last start? Every one has bad days. K/BB rate is crazy good. Hope it carries over to St. Paul. Good job and good luck. Bighat will be calling for promotion before July ends 

You might be thinking of Festa - he didn't get out of the first inning at Louisville on Friday night.

[mikelink45]

I love it and I hope he has now become next man up.  Varland, Zebby, Festa should be a very successful rotation for St Paul.  And I hope we see him in Mpls this year.

[Doctor Wu]

9 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Probably wasn't rocked. Pitched 3 innings, 49 pitches, 4 K’s, 2 hits, 2 bb 1 earned run. 

Yeah, allowing those two walks. A total meltdown!

[Linus]

I love pitchers who can throw it over. That he doesn’t give up homers either is a pretty good combo. Does anyone have additional info on his secondary pitches?  

[jmlease1]

13 hours ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

Glad to see the move. It was getting to the point where the FO couldn't find an excuse for keeping this kid down on the farm. Had to give Zebby a shot at Triple A or risk major embarrassment. I mean it's not like the Twins couldn't use another arm ready and waiting in St. Paul before this season's over.

This is a weird shot to take at the front office. They moved him through 2 levels in his first professional season, which was LAST YEAR. He's now jumped 3 levels in year two, and has moved into AAA. How exactly is the front office holding him back?

Sure seems like they've handled him well: promoted him aggressively while improving his stuff, increasing his workload while trying to avoid overstressing his arm.

[Doctor Wu]

9 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Awesome news for the org and Zebby!! Coming into this season, I thought Raya would be this guy but Zebby it is! Home grown and developed ! Nothing better than that.

It really is good news! I'm happy that the Twins didn't play it safe and keep him longer in AA. He definitely deserves the promotion to AAA. I hope he continues pitching well with that insane K/BB ratio. 

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

33 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

This is a weird shot to take at the front office. They moved him through 2 levels in his first professional season, which was LAST YEAR. He's now jumped 3 levels in year two, and has moved into AAA. How exactly is the front office holding him back?

Sure seems like they've handled him well: promoted him aggressively while improving his stuff, increasing his workload while trying to avoid overstressing his arm.

Some people just can't help themselves. The same FO who developed him from an 8th round pick just 2 drafts ago are now "risking major embarrassment" for not moving him up to AAA after a grand total of 9 starts in AA?

Even in instances when they deserve nothing but credit some people only want to trash them. 

[SF Twins Fan]

What do people who've seen him pitch think of his potential?  Do you see him as a potential top of the order guy similar to Lopez (When he's pitching well), better than Lopez, or more likely somewhere in between Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober?

[Trov]

He clearly has jumped to one of top prospects in our system, and unlike Raya they are letting him pitch deep into games and throw upwards of 90 pitches. Last year he was okay, but this year he has taken his game to another level.  If he can pitch to this level from here on out he will be a huge boost for MLB team years to come. 

Personally, I would not want to give him a pen roll this year unless you feel like you need to protect his innings.  If we need to call someone up, provided he dices up AAA like he has AA and high A I would look to him.  Festa would be more a pen move or Varland again.  

 

[DJL44]

27 minutes ago, SF Twins Fan said:

What do people who've seen him pitch think of his potential?  Do you see him as a potential top of the order guy similar to Lopez (When he's pitching well), better than Lopez, or more likely somewhere in between Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober?

Zach Eflin is the best example of an MLB pitcher succeeding by never walking anyone.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

It will be nice to have a third North Carolinian (Mathews) on the Twins (Ober and Jeffers are the other 2), with the #1 Twins prospect (Jenkins) also being a North Carolinian.