The New York Yankees finished off the New York Mets in a dramatic fashion on Sunday, then hours later announced that a veteran pitcher had decided to leave the organization.
The Yankees had designated right-handed pitcher Tyler Matzek for assignment earlier in the week, but announced early on May 19 that he opted to leave the organization.
“Today, LHP Tyler Matzek elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment,” the Yankees shared in a post on X.
The decision leaves an uncertain future for the pitcher who had an unusual path that included five years between stints with major league clubs.
Tyler Matzek’s Limited Impact
The Yankees had signed Matzek to a minor league deal back in February, starting with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in April before the team selected his contract on April 11.
Matzek appeared in seven games, posting a 4.26 ERA through 6.2 innings before the team designated him for assignment late last week.
As SI.com’s John Markowski noted, Matzek had a non-linear career path that included a big gap in the middle.
“A Colorado Rockies first-round pick back in 2009, he was a former top prospect who first broke into the majors as a starting pitcher in 2014 and 2015,” Markowski wrote. “Matzek developed the yips, however, and wouldn’t make it back to the bigs after his stint with the Rockies until 2020 as a member of the Atlanta Braves.”
Markowski was a regular on the Braves in 2021, helping the team win a World Series.
Yankees Coming Off Big Series Win
Matzek’s departure from the team comes after a win in their most anticipated series, the Subway Series and return of Juan Soto with the Mets.
After the teams split the first two games of the series, the Yankees took the rubber match on the strength of a six-run eighth inning, winning 8-2.
The inning was punctuated by a grand slam from Cody Bellinger, who had a total of seven hits, seven RBIs, and two home runs in the series. After the game, he said it was a big accomplishment to beat the team tied for the best record in the NL.
âBoth teams are playing really well,â Bellinger said, via the New York Daily News. âThey have a good team over there. The lineupâs really good. Theyâre pitching really well. And obviously for us over here, I really like what weâre doing. I love the guys in this locker room, and I think weâre playing really good baseball overall.â
Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, whose throwing error allowed the Yankees to score the go-ahead run in the eighth before the offensive onslaught that followed, passed the sentiment back to the Yankees.
âThatâs a great team over there,â he said. âThatâs the beautiful part about playing in the Subway Series. No matter which side youâre on, itâs that electric environment and itâs really fun. This is really fun baseball.â
The series was marked with some dramatic moments, including the Bronx faithful booing Soto in his first return to Yankee Stadium since bolting in free agency to join the Mets.
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