Atlanta Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos joined Dukes & Bell and talked about reliever Tyler Matzek, how he became a Brave and why the team would not have made the World Series without him.
Anthopoulos talked about how the team found Matzek.
“Tyler of course deserves all the credit in the world could have absolutely been the MVP as well, he’s that good,” Anthopoulos said. “I’ve said this a lot because I don’t think it’s out there but Dana Brown our VP of scouting if it’s not for him Tyler Matzek the name doesn’t even cross my desk. He begged me to sign him, he sent some scouts and got some looks and I was reluctant because it was going to be a minor league deal and there was two weeks left in the minor league season and why are we going to sign a guy for two weeks and then he’s gone. But he got on the phone with me and he basically screamed at me to do it, we needed to do it and I’m going with him, he’s a really good evaluator and a really good scout. When he’s that passionate about a guy and I always remind him it’s one of the best moves he could have made because he’s a huge part of our success, so we signed him to a two year minor league deal and brought him to camp before the covid shut down and he looked great and then to Snit’s credit he said why don’t we bring him back to that camp in July when we reopened up and obviously he made the team and he’s been outstanding.”
“A lot of people have to do with him being a part of the organization and just Tyler himself, what he’s done and how important he’s been. The meaningful innings, the big jams, just all the big outs have been huge for us, so he’s been an elite bullpen guy, we do not get to the World Series without all the contributions he’s made.”