Phil Maton and the Tampa Bay Rays are in the final stages of a working out a contract, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports. Maton has spent the past two and half seasons with the Houston Astros. The righty represented one of the most reliable high-leverage arms in Houston’s bullpen during his tenure. Maton joins the team fresh off one the best years of his career.
RHP Phil Maton is finalizing a deal with the Rays, per source. Maton had a 3.00 ERA in 68 appearances for the Astros in 2023.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) February 3, 2024
Rays Close to Signing Phil Maton
Across 68 games in 2023, Maton pitched 66 innings with a 3.00 ERA (141 ERA+). While he doesn’t throw hard (his fastball averaged 88.9 mph last season), he produced great results by limiting hard contact and striking hitters out.
Among qualified pitchers, Maton had the lowest (the best) Hard-Hit percentage and the fourth-lowest Average Exit Velocity. Hitters absolutely failed to make hard contact off Maton last season and throughout his Houston tenure.
Here are the pitchers with the lowest hard-hit rates since 2022 (min. 100 IP):
Phil Maton: 26.6%
Devin Williams: 28.3%
Brent Suter: 28.3% https://t.co/g569CU44HS— Mathew Brownstein (@MBrownstein89) January 9, 2024
Maton is special because he pairs this soft-contact skill with an above-average ability to miss bats. He has a career strikeout rate of 26.5 percent while producing great Whiff (23.9 percent, 90th percentile) and Chase (30.2 percent, 69th percentile) rates last season. Maton provides Tampa Bay with an elite skillset that he has displayed over a multi-year period and in pressure situations.
Maton relies primarily on his curveball, which he threw over 40 percent of the time last season. Off his curveball, batters hit .168, slugged .280, and Whiffed 34.6 percent of the time last year.
While Maton’s production was 40 percent better than league average in 2023, it the first time since 2017 that he produced an ERA+ better than 100 (league average). From 2017 to 2022, Maton’s ERA+ is 91 with a 4.55 ERA. However, he struck out 10.4 per nine and did not give up many home runs. This shows that Maton had good stuff despite lackluster overall results.
It’s possible that Maton is a late bloomer rather than just coming off a career-year. He throws from a low arm angle, and pitchers with unorthodox traits often take longer to put everything together. If he is peaking now, Maton might provide the Rays with great production on a deal that will prove highly valuable.
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