With a glowing telephone in his hand and matching grin on his face, Luke Jackson tapped Tyler Matzek on the shoulder to ask for his editorial blessing.
The 2 relievers had simply helped their Braves beat the Brewers, 3-0, in Recreation 2 of the 2021 NLDS. Matzek struck out three over 1.1 scoreless innings after inheriting two runners from Jackson within the backside of the seventh, so the latter wished to indicate some love on social media.
“Tyler Nutzack,” Jackson typed on his display screen. “That’s it. That’s the tweet.”
“I thought it was funny,” mentioned Max Fried, who began that day. “It just represents the type of competitor he is out there. He’s gonna leave everything out on the line.”
Tyler Nutzack.
That’s it that’s the tweet.
Matzek additionally discovered the free play on his identify hilarious, although he and Jackson briefly stopped to think about what their employer may say.
“Do you think the Braves will be mad?” Jackson contemplated earlier than throwing warning to the wind.
It solely took a couple of minutes for the Braves to retweet the put up, a ringing endorsement for a moniker that has been hooked up to Matzek ever since. The lefty even inscribes “Nutsack” beneath his signature, and he owns a customized chain that includes two gold peanuts.
Typically, Matzek wears the necklace throughout video games, although it didn’t comply with him to the newest cease on his winding journey: the Yankees’ clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Area.
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Matzek, who received the 2021 World Collection with Atlanta and owns a 1.48 ERA over 20 postseason video games, earned his nickname for his ballsy performances in pressure-packed conditions. But fright as soon as threatened to finish the 34-year-old’s profession earlier than it may take off.
A primary-round choose in 2009, Matzek debuted with the Rockies in 2014, recording a 4.05 ERA over 117.2 innings. Matzek ought to have discovered his season fruitful as a rookie pitcher calling Coors Area house, however excessive expectations for himself changed into anxiousness as he sought enchancment in his sophomore season.
That unease manifested in an absence of command. Matzek walked 19 batters in his first 22 large league innings in 2015, a stretch that included two six-walk outings. When the Rockies demoted him, he responded by issuing seven free passes over one inning in his first begin again at Triple-A.
The issue grew to become clear at that time: Matzek had the yips.
“You’re unable to make a throw 10 feet as a professional baseball player,” he mentioned. “It’s a mental thing. It’s just an overreaction to fear.”
If Matzek wished to manage the ball, he needed to discover ways to management his concern, “opposed to letting it tear you apart,” he defined.
That took time, and ideas of retirement infiltrated Matzek’s thoughts lengthy earlier than he stepped on one other large league mound.
In actual fact, Matzek discovered himself able to stop after the White Sox launched him on the finish of spring coaching in 2017. Months glided by with out curiosity from different golf equipment, so the Mission Viejo, California native signed up for some lessons at close by Saddleback School.
The choice devastated his spouse, Lauren.
“She broke down crying,” Matzek recalled. “She said, ‘No, I think you have more to offer the game. I don’t want you to give up.’ And I was telling her, ‘I’m not making any money doing this. We’re just gonna keep slowly draining money.’ She said, ‘I don’t care.’
“It was the ah-ha wakeup moment. If she can go through that pain and suffering and she’s willing to sign up for that, then what am I doing here feeling sorry for myself?”
About two months later, Matzek acquired a name from former Rockies teammate Michael McKenry. The catcher invited Matzek to dwell with him in Nashville for every week. He offered greater than only a place to crash.
“I need you to come out here and work with this guy,” McKenry instructed Matzek.
That man turned out to be Jason Kuhn, a former Navy Seal and pitcher turned psychological expertise coach. Kuhn battled the yips himself at Tennessee State, and he’s made a profession out of serving to athletes slay the situation.
Kuhn spent months working with Matzek following their introduction. Matzek referred to as their periods “hardcore.”
“It was a grind,” he mentioned. “Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t enjoy it, but I’m happy having gone through it, because it made me a better baseball player, a better person today.”
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Matzek returned to professional ball in 2018 with the impartial Texas AirHogs. Walks remained a difficulty, however he inked a minor league take care of the Diamondbacks in 2019 following a showcase at Driveline, the data-driven Seattle facility.
Arizona launched Matzek that Might, prompting a second stint with the AirHogs. Matzek impressed this time, totaling a 2.64 ERA and 53 strikeouts over 30.2 innings. He nonetheless walked 19 hitters, however the Braves gave him an opportunity that summer season.
In 2020, Matzek cracked Atlanta’s Opening Day roster and returned to the majors for the primary time in 5 years. The yips conquered, he posted a sub-3.00 ERA over 21 video games. He did the identical over 69 appearances in 2021, establishing himself as one of many nastiest pitchers in a championship bullpen.
“His journey is very admirable,” mentioned Fried, reunited with Matzek on the Yankees. “It’s a testament to who he is and what he’s been able to overcome.”
Sadly for Matzek, a number of accidents interrupted his 2022 marketing campaign, and he finally underwent Tommy John surgical procedure that October. The operation sidelined him for all of 2023.
Matzek didn’t seem like the reliever the Braves had come to know when he returned in 2024, as he allowed 11 earned runs over 10 innings to start out the season. Matzek has not pitched within the majors since, as he suffered a setback and went on the injured listing with elbow irritation earlier than being traded to the Giants final July.
He solely threw in 5 video games for San Francisco’s Triple-A affiliate earlier than reuniting with Atlanta on a minor league contract.
One other minor league deal adopted in February, this time with the Yankees. The membership had signed Fried in December, and the 2 mates stayed in contact all through the winter.
Matzek additionally spent a part of his offseason throwing at UC Irvine. There, Gerrit Cole occurred to see a healthy-looking southpaw who had added a two-seam fastball to his arsenal. The ace, who competed in opposition to Matzek in highschool, instructed Yankees GM Brian Cashman, and a scout ultimately went to look at.
Now Matzek is well-positioned to be the membership’s subsequent NRI success story.
“You feel like we got something there,” Aaron Boone instructed reporters after Matzek logged a scoreless inning in his spring debut on Feb. 25. The supervisor added that Matzek may “absolutely factor in” to a bullpen that seems to have a number of openings on account of accidents.
Matzek is grateful for the chance, in addition to a clear invoice of well being. He appears like himself after a troublesome Tommy John restoration, although he’s not promising a return to the shape that earned him the nickname “Nutsack.”
“I don’t know if I’m gonna be who I was three, four, five years ago,” Matzek acknowledged. “But the version of me right now is feeling really good and is excited to go out there and show what I got.”
