Former major leaguer bolsters Wild Things’ bullpen
Associated Press
Isaac Mattson throws a pitch for the Baltimore Orioles last year in a game against the Boston Red Sox. Mattson is currently pitching for the Wild Things. He is the second former major leaguer to play for Washington.
Julio Cortez
Associated Press
Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Isaac Mattson catches a ball after a pitch to the Boston Red Sox during his major league debut May 7, 2021, in Baltimore. Mattson is currently pitching for the Wild Things.
The list of former major leaguers who have signed with and played for the Wild Things has doubled.
Washington signed right-handed pitcher Isaac Mattson and activated him Thursday.
Mattson (6-2, 205) is a former standout at Pitt and pitched in four major league games last year for the Baltimore Orioles.
A native of Harbor Creek, which is east of Erie, Mattson is the second former major leaguer to play for the Wild Things. The first was ace starter Rob Whalen (11-2, 3.35), so the Wild Things will have two former major leaguers on their pitching staff.
It will be some time before both Mattson and Whalen are on the active roster together. Whalen was placed on the seven-day disabled list Wednesday, one day before Mattson made his Wild Things debut.
Washington did sign another former major leaguer, pitcher Adonis Rosa, in February but he remains in the Dominican Republic and is on the Wild Things’ inactive list.
The 27-year-old Mattson was recently released from Class AAA by the Orioles, and he said he knew where he wanted to resume his professional career if it couldn’t be with an affiliated organization.
“There were a number of factors,” Mattson said. “The biggest factor this team is playing really good baseball. I knew that if I came here I could play for a good team in a good league. Proximity to home, to my dad and my connections at Pitt had something to do with it, too.”
Mattson put together a standout career at Pitt, where he pitched in 60 games (one start) and compiled a 4-1 record, five saves and struck out 109 batters in 96 innings over three seasons. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the 19th round in 2017.
Mattson rapidly moved through the Angels’ farm system and in 2019, playing at the Class A, AA and AAA levels, he allowed only 47 hits in 73 1/3 innings. That year he was sent to play in the prestigious Arizona Fall League along with many of the top MLB prospects.
During that offseason, Mattson was one of the four players Baltimore received in a trade that sent starting pitcher Dylan Bundy to the Angels. After the pandemic caused the cancellation of the minor-league season in 2020, Mattson was added to the Orioles’ 40-man roster. He received a promotion to the majors twice last year, in late June and again in August.
In four outings with the Orioles, Mattson struck out five in 4 1/3 innings. A mere 13 months ago, he was pitching against the Los Angeles Angels and retiring all-stars Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon in consecutive at-bats. But after being the final roster cut of spring training this year, Mattson struggled at Class AAA Norfolk, where he had a 1-0 record and 6.62 ERA.
“Baseball is about being in a rhythm. Since 2019, I’ve had stretches of being in a rhythm, maybe a month or two. This year, I had some trouble both mentally and physically in June and got help from a sports psychologist. That helped. I feel like I’m back on track. Innings just became harder to get (at Norfolk) when big leaguers would get sent down. They had to get their innings in.”
That left Mattson being used less frequently and he was released July 18.
“I’ve been here only a couple of days but I can tell this is a team that wants to win a championship,” Mattson said.
Mattson made his Wild Things debut against Gateway on Thursday, when the pitcher had trouble with the hit-and-run, but not the baseball variety.
On his way to Wild Things Park, Mattson was driving on Interstate 79 near Canonsburg when an afternoon rainstorm began. The cars in front of Mattson slowed, he said, and he slowed but the car behind him did not and made contact with Mattson’s vehicle. After both drivers pulled to the side of the road, the car that struck Mattson suddenly drove away.
Being a quick thinker, Mattson got the car’s license plate number as it was driving away.
Mattson’s Wild Things debut was effective but also had a couple of bumps along the way. He struck out the first batter he faced and tossed a scoreless eighth inning in Washington’s 2-0 victory over the Grizzlies. He did issue a pair of two-out walks – on eight consecutive pitches – but kept the shutout intact with an inning-ending groundout.