Minor League Baseball

Minnesota Twins Expected to Call Up Top Pitching Prospect Zebby Matthews

Zebby Matthews, who has been dealing with Triple-A St. Paul to open the 2025 season, is projected to join the Minnesota Twins' rotation for Sunday's contest against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sam Connon

Fort Myers, Florida, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Zebby Matthews (52) pitching in the first inning of their game with the Atlanta Braves at Lee Health Sports Complex.
Fort Myers, Florida, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Zebby Matthews (52) pitching in the first inning of their game with the Atlanta Braves at Lee Health Sports Complex. / Chris Tilley-Imagn Images
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Minnesota Twins prospect Zebby Matthews is expected to get called up to the big leagues this weekend, The Minnesota Star Tribune's Bob Nightengale reported Thursday.

With Simeon Woods Richardson getting optioned to Triple-A St. Paul, the Twins' rotation is down to four arms. Joe Ryan and Pablo López are slated to start games Friday and Saturday games against the Milwaukee Brewers, while Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack aren't in line to start again until the Cleveland Guardians visit town next week.

That leaves a vacancy on Sunday, so Matthews should be able to slide in and make his first MLB start of the year in the series finale at the Brewers.

Baseball America had Matthews ranked as the No. 73 overall prospect in baseball entering 2025. That made him the No. 1 pitcher and No. 4 overall prospect in the Twins' farm system.

Matthews technically exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2024, having made nine starts between Aug. 13 and the end of the season. He went 1-4 with a 6.69 ERA, 1.646 WHIP and -0.6 WAR, though, all while Minnesota fell out of the playoff picture.

In 9.1 innings of work in spring training, Matthews gave up four hits, one walk and zero runs with 12 strikeouts, but he still got sent to Triple-A St. Paul to open the regular season. He has made seven starts with the Saints so far in 2025, going 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA, 1.194 WHIP and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

Since being selected in the eighth round of the 2022 MLB Draft, Matthews has gone 15-7 with a 3.03 ERA, 0.987 WHIP and 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors.

Matthews, 24, likely will face off against Freddy Peralta on Sunday. Peralta, a 28-year-old All-Star, is 4-3 with a 2.66 ERA, 1.066 WHIP and 1.5 WAR in 2025.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and other "On SI'' baseball sites. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for “UCLA on SI’’ and won awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for “New England Patriots on SI’’ and was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Follow Sam on Twitter @SamConnon.

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