John Matthews

Matthews arrived at Kent State as an infielder who could also pitch. But he flipped roles as a sophomore, giving up hitting to work out of the Flashes bullpen and moved into Kent State’s rotation as a junior. The results have been decidedly hot and cold. Matthews has three average pitches—a 90-93 mph fastball and an average slider and curve. Both the slider and curve can flash above-average as well. But his rough outings outnumbered the dominant ones (including six scoreless innings against Toledo where he struck out 10 and walked no one). That explains his 5.45 ERA. He does miss bats (10.5 strikeouts per nine innings), but he’s also prone to leaving the ball over the heart of the plate. He has solid control, but needs to improve his command. Matthews is relatively new to focusing on pitching so there’s some projection left in him and he has a clean delivery and a fast arm, which makes him a useful day two pick, even with some ugly statistics.