Matzek: 'I felt bad for opposing pitchers'
Atlanta Braves reliever Tyler Matzek has always had a sense of humor. The reliever, affectionately known as "Nutsack" for his 2021 postseason performance, was the first to chirp back at Pete Alonso for the "throw it again" comment after Atlanta retook the lead, won the series, and eventually the division...again
But let it be known, he's sensitive, too.
He showed that sensitive side in an appearance on MLB Network Radio's "Loud Outs", talking about Atlanta's historic offense in the 2023 season and what it made him feel from the dugout.
"Watching our offense go to work, I felt bad for some pitchers on the opposing teams. I'm not gonna lie. You go through our lineup, and you try and find holes, right? As a pitcher, you're going through like 'I can get this guy', 'this guy's a good matchup,'. [...] You go through our lineup and you're like 'dude, I don't know that there's any outs here. There's just not many easy, soft outs.' And the offense went ahead and showed that all year last year.
Matzek, who missed the 2023 season for Tommy John surgery but is expected to return for spring training, went on to talk about how impressive the Braves lineup was as a whole.
One through nine - we have Michael Harris (II) at nine, you know what I mean? We've got some studs out in the bottom of the lineup. Any other team, they're hitting 2, 3, 4, and it goes to show you how good Alex (Anthopoulos) and our front office have been at developing those players to fill those spots at the bottom of the order. I think it helps the top, it helps the whole entire lineup. It's just, from top to bottom, amazing to watch these guys go to work. They're all professionals and true athletes, man. They just love their work, they love their craft."
Atlanta's offense scored a MLB-pacing 947 runs, not only leading the league in homers but tying the 2019 Minnesota Twins for highest homer total in history with 307. The Braves team slugging percentage, .501, was not only the highest in history but the first time any team had finished with a slugging over .500.
Michael Harris II, to Matzek's note, overcame an injury-impacted slow start to finish with a .293/.331/.477 slash line, scoring 76 runs while making 88 of his 138 starts from the bottom of the order. On the season, batting in the #9 spot, Harris went .301/.334/.494, a mark that's better than most leadoff hitters across the league.
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