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

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 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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!

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?  

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.

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. 

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?

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.  

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.

1 hour 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.

Whoa! Got taken to the woodshed on that comment. And in retrospect the criticism was probably justified, my wording was too strong. In my defense I was trying to refer to what myself and others often see as the Twins general (not just Zebby) reluctance to bring up deserving kids from the farm in favor of signing ( or keeping) fading veteran players (Farmer, Margo as examples?)

That tendency apparently frustrates some some more than others.