To say the Tampa Yankees closer, Matt Marsh, is a friend of Off The Bench is a bit of an understatement. I grew up with the kid, know his family, and my mother and uncle met up with him over the offseason to enjoy a college football game. There’s something about the bond forged in the dugout during all those U-16 tournaments that we played across the Southeast that is indescribable. I mention all this to make clear that I’m biased. I root for Matt. Hard. OTBB even published an extended interview with him this winter.
When I heard that he planned to train hard this offseason at a facility in the DC area where a teammate had trained recently and gained a few miles per hour, I was excited. I knew Matt’s history of arm troubles had robbed him of the potential velocity that was evident from the time we were 12. I knew that he had spent time at 3 different colleges on his way to being an undrafted right handed reliever out of Liberty University.
From my position as a blogger and baseball nerd, I know the success rate of that type of player. I know 24-year old relievers in A-ball are often labelled “non-prospects.” They’re usually organizational filler that take up space on rosters, and help minor league teams compete through their rigorous schedule.
I know that often times these guys are the footnote in scouting notebooks. They’re the guys that the real prospects are supposed to hit home runs off of. Matt’s baseball resume is impressive, but until this year was just impressive enough to be good enough to face the million dollar bonus babies, the Jorge Mateo’s of the world.
But all that just makes me more excited as I regularly check Matt’s baseball-reference page. He started the season as a closer for the high-A Yankees. He was pitching after Jacob Lindgren, the lefty reliever prospect that put up like 20 WAR for my fictional 2022 Braves team in OOTP16.
Not only is he functioning as the team’s “closer”, he is excelling statistically. I use closer in quotes because at that level roles aren’t quite as defined as they are in the majors. One of his most recent appearances spanned innings 5 and 6. His overall stat line for the year:
21.2 innings, 1.66 ERA, and 21 strikeouts against just 6 walks.
The stat line is exciting, but Matt’s offseason work appears to be paying off in the form of increased velocity. Mr. Marsh’ fastball sat 89-90 his whole life. This year, he’s 91-93 and flashing higher. I’m not a baseball executive, but I do know the difference between 90 and 93 is huge when considering how the front office considers a pitcher.
The results have been good, but they’ve always been good for Marsh. He’s got a 2.15 career ERA across 100 pro innings. His peripherals are good too: 8.9 K/9, 3.2 BB/9. Somewhere along the line, I stopped lumping Marsh in with my other friends who were better than me at baseball. At some point, I realized that it’s more appropriate to lump him in with Yankees farmhands that I read about.
Things are good for Matt Marsh. He got a call up to the big league camp towards the end of Spring Training a few months back. He never got in a Grapefruit League game, but the move signaled to me that the Yankees recognized his improvement, that he was worthy of sharing a locker room with Alex Rodriguez. Marsh has to keep working, keep improving, and keep dominating in order to get to the real Big League clubhouse. He probably needs a little luck, too. But I’m rooting for him and it’s not just because I want free tickets to Yankee Stadium.
-Sean Morash
